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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at |http: //books .google .com/I J GIFT OF ''^ Society for Religious Eduofitlon THE RELIGION OF THE SOUL ^OLii;^ Francis /^^Jtrr'-^on PUBUSHED BY Society for Religious Education GLEN ELLYN, ILLINOIS, U. S. A. (POSTPAID •IJM) ^ ^^ COPYRIG.HT 1922, C,tr^ A BY MARK SAJSTDS • » • •• -• • a • ••••• PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE There is One God, one Will of God and there- fore one religion. The ungodly strife among creeds with their in- veterate traditional prejudices, and the consequent mental and sentimental confusion, is the result of the fact that none of them directly appeals to conscience as our inward bond with God. Notwithstanding the universal conviction that conscience is the supreme tribunal of worthiness and judgment, no creed has ever attempted to explain the might of conscience as the living Voice of God and the supreme source of religion. Though historical creeds possess a large volume of more or less sublime religious aspirations, the absence of the Voice of God in their fundamental doctrines makes it impossible for them to substantiate the spiritual honor of the soul, to establish religious harmony among themselves, and to lead mankind to that godly mutuality which is the desire of every righteous heart. No religious cult or form has any intrinsic value unless it is strictly based on conscience, the sole might and inspiration of religious truth. 3 637021 4 PREFACE • Conscience is the real temple of religion, where the Voice of God is clearly audible. In this holy temple we see and feel the father- hood of God, our divine childship and immortal brotherhood, the three eternal gospels of religion and the theme of all great prophets and teachers of humanity. The cry for religion in the human heart was never so potent as it is to-day. But we must first know and possess conscience, before we shall be able to understand the true religion of the soul. To all men of good will, interested in their own consciences and in the conscience of mankind, these pages are offered in profound esteem and sincere affection. 1 922 Justus. Further works of the author will soon be pub- lished in the following order: 1. Virtues, the Eternal Essence and Form of Religion. •(A critical and formal exposition of the essence of religion.) 2. Soul and Conscience. (A psychology based on conscience and logic and the intrinsic interrelation of these sciences.) 3. The Face of Cod and the Plan of Divine Creation. (A universal theosophy including the struc- ture of the natural universe.) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Preface 5 Religion in General 9 Origin of Religion 10 God 12 The Almighty Attributes Pertaining to the Holy Will of God . 1 3 Divine Holiness 13 Divine Perfection 14 Divine Eternity 16 The Almighty Attributes Pertaining to the Holy Truth of God . 1 7 Divine Contemplation 17 Divine Omniscience 19 Divine Omnipresence . .21 The Almighty Attributes Pertaining to the Holy Love of God. 23 Divine Love 23 Divine Justice 25 Divine Goodness 27 Conscience 30 The Eternal Origin and Form of Conscience 32 The Commanding Might of Ccmscience 37 The Soul 39 The Reason for the Existence of the Soul 44 The Great Destiny of the Soul 46 The Fulfilment of our Holy Destiny 52 Virtues the Eternal Voice of God in Conscience and the Substance of Religion 55 Virtues of the Will 59 The Virtue of Humility 59 7 Page The Virtue of Fortitude 63 The Virtue of Beatitude 68 Virtues of the Mind 72 The Virtue of Divine Light 73 The Virtue of WisdcMn 76 The Virtue of Simplicity 80 Virtue* of the Heart 90 The Virtue of Love 90 The Virtue of Righteousness % The Virtue of Goodness 100 The Inward Likeness of the Religious Soul 107 The Cull of God 112 Sacramental Confession of the Church of God 113 The Decalog of Religious Life 117 Passions of the Soul 119 Passions of the Will 119 Pride 119 Religious Indolence 1 23 Spiritual Misery 1 26 Passions of the Mind 1 32 Conceit 132 Religious Ignorance 133 Duplicity 138 Passions of the Heart 144 Hale 143 Unrighteousness 1 30 Selfishness 1 34 The Body of the Soul 164 The Future Life 1 70 The Ascent or Inward Course of Life . . * 1 79 The Fall or Outward Course of Life ! 190 The Last Word of Conscience 202 8 The Religion of the Soul RELIGION IN GENElSAi': What is religion? Religion according to its Latin derivation "re- ligere/' "to esteem/* and "religare," "to bind," means the holy bond between God and the soul. This holy bond demands the knowledge of God, the knowledge of the soul and the knowledge of the soul's relation to God. These are the three essential objects of religion. It is the absolute demand of our conscience that we know God and our soul in order to understand clearly our relation to Him. Ignorance of God arises from unwillingness and neglect of the understanding of things divine, and is in itSelf sinful, a fact which has never been suf- ficiently impressed on the human conscience. From the ignorance of God follows the ignorance of our soul, and this ignorance causes confusion and sinfulness. If we do not know the absolute source of our being it is impossible to understand rightly 9 \0 RELIGION OF THE SOUL the great courses and final evolutions of our spiritual capacities and the essential rules of life. No vital question can be solved without religion, because religion is the sole answer to all intimate and important questions of life. " •■ • «, w • ORIGIN OF RELIGION IVhat is the origin of religion ? The origin of religion lies in conscience, the ever- living Voice of God. God as our Creator, as our Lord and our eternal Father, is the Leader and Teacher of our inward- ness. For this reason our responsibility to God is al- ways the first responsibility. It precedes all other responsibilities, a fact which is proved by the instant consciousness and feeling of having performed a good deed or of having committed an evil deed. Conscience is the continuous and everlasting con- tact of the soul with God. God guides and teaches through conscience and he who is attentive to the dictates of conscience and who follows these dic- tates unhesitatingly is on the path to holy life, while the one who is neglectful in the execution of these dictates is bound to fall beneath his human dignity and suffer shame and punishment. RELIGION IN GENERAL '^ 1 1 C^"^ Natural existence is external and transient. Spiritual existence is supernatural, because it has a higher dignity through personal cooperation with the Will of God, and personal responsibility. But conscience is superspiritual, because it is the holiest Voice of God which dominates our soul. Conscience, therefore, is the holy origin and bond of religion, the sole ground of our personal honor, the one true light which guides our judgments, and the immaculate and beautiful warmth of pure senti- ments. GOD What is Cod? God is the Superpersonal and Superspiritual might from which all life, spiritual and natural, derives. What are the intimate features of Cod? The inward superspiritual manifestations of God are Holiness, Truth and Love, the fundamental trinity of His inherent Divine life. Wh^ do Tve call Cod superpersonal? We call God superpersonal because God is not a personal and relative being like ourselves, but the one, absolute and superpersonal Superbeing, eter- nally creating and dominating the existential being of which our souls are a part. Wh^ do rve call Cod superspiritual? We call God superspiritual because His might surpasses infinitely the power of all created souls and because God creates our spiritual essence and dominates our spiritual life. Now let us behold and study the three funda- mental superspiritual manifestations of God, His majestic Holiness, His contemplative Truth and His sacrificial Love. 12 GOD [3 The Almighty Attributes Pertaining to THE Holy Will of God Divine Holiness What is the Holiness of Cod? Divine Holiness is the absolute, perfect and eternal Will of God, Who rules in supreme majesty. Who acts almightily, and Who lives in His eternal superspirituality. What do Tve understand by the absolute Will of God? By the absolute Will of God we understand the one holiest voluntary might which is related to noth- ing superior and to nothing equal except itself. By the absolute Will of God we also understand the supreme superpersonal might which always and everywhere, through all ages and spheres, rules in eternally adorable majesty. The Will of God is the one supreme and majestic Will which all saintly and virtuous souls adore and love and all wicked souls fear and hate. The Will of God is the law of all laws, the supreme leader of worthy deeds, the sole sanctifier of holy life, the most bountiful bestower of heavenly gifts and the most merciful savior of fallen souls. The majestic holiness of God inherently possesses M RELIGION OF THE SOUL the omnipotent perfection and superspiritual eternity as the integral mights and revelation of the Divine Will. Indeed, holy, holy, holy is the Will of God! Divine Perfection IVhal is Divine Perfection? Divine Perfection is the plenitude of the holiest mights of God in all their manifestations. It con- tains the almighty attributes of God which emanate from His Holiness like luminous rays issuing from an infinite and holy fire. What are the almighty attributes pertaining to the holy Will of God? 1 — The majestic Holiness. 2 — ^The omnipotent Perfection. 3— The superspiritual Eternity. What are the almighty attributes pertaining to the holy Truth of Cod? 1 — ^The creative contemplation of God. 2 — The omniscient predestination of God. 3 — ^The omnipresent providence of God. What are the almighty attributes pertaining to the holy Love of God? 1 — The eternally guiding sacrifice of God. GOD 15 ' III! Ill ^M^— ■ 11, p ■ I I I I H I—— fcitijpiiw y i r I ■^ ri pi j * 9 . ■ . 2 — ^The eternally 'ruling justice of God. 3 — ^The eternally saving goodness of God, A knowledge of these attributes is essential to our knowledge of God, our eternal Creator, Lord and Father. If we do not know the holiest per- fections and omnipotent attributes of God, we do not know God, and, consequently, are bound to fail in our faith in Him and in our devotion and gratitude to Him. The Divine attributes constitute the hoUest proto- type of holy life, and the eternal ground of the liv- ing faith in God, and of profoundest devotion and gratitude to Him and all things divine. Religious life intrinsically consists in adoring, contemplating and following the holy attributes of God, because these holy attributes are the eternal prototypes of holy life. Our wills, our minds and our hearts are made for the exclusive purpose of participating in, of co- operating with and of affirming the Life of God, and of affirming our own souls in His eternal Life. There is no greater purpose of life than this divine purpose. No minor purpose is sufficient to fill the life of a spiritual being. And any other purpose is absurd/ mad and disastrous. 1 6 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Divine Eternity What is Divine Eternity? Divine E;ternity is the state of the holiness and perfection of God, His celestial dwelling above all time and space. Eternity is the most adorable life of God, from whence radiates Divine Truth and Love. It is the domain of the holiest attributes of God, the living heaven of never vanishing grandeur, splendor, beauty and beatitude. Around this holy eternity of God dwell the sanctified heroes of virtue, who faithfully participate in the life of God, and who with profoundest grati- tude for their divine childship and amidst never ceas- ing blessing, devotedly cooperate with the holy Will of God. Heaven is the source and life of holy sacrifice, whence all divine treasures flow. For this reason all virtuous souls strive with all their power to reach heaven, that they too may possess and perform sacrifices, the sole proof of the soul's innocence and greatness. Likewise, for this reason the weak and the wicked are so restless and miserable, because, not having the purpose of sacrificial striving in their lives, they GOD 17 " ' " ■■■ ■ ■ ■ " ■ " ■' ■ I I I I I I . I II , W I ■ !■ —■ ' ' ' ■ ■ ' I I I ■ I I .. p . can have no taste of heaven, and hence no security and no lasting peace and joy. All souls have an inward longing for heaven. Either in distress or exultation man raises his heart to the heights above him. Every great resolution, every expression of truth, every oath of truthfulness, every serious pledge and every inward pleading consciously or subconsciously feels the might of this heavenly influence and power. Immortality is the desire of every soul, but the fulness of immortality is attained in the heaven of Divine eternity. It is this subconscious attraction of heaven which causes the desire for immortal life. The Almighty Attributes Pertaining to THE Holy Truth of God Divine Contemplation What is Divine Truth? Divine Truth is an inward act of the Divine contemplation of God*s holiest attributes, from which act emanates and radiates all light, as from a holy eternal fire. Thus Divine Truth is the eternal light and rev- elation of Divine Holiness, that its majestic might and grandeur may be adored, comprehended and loved. 1 1 8 RELIGION OF THE SOUL ■ I I *l J I I II » III I I ■■■■■■■■ I ■■■ I M I I. ■ ■■! ■ ■ , ,. - '—"f^itmm^mm^g^tmtmm t m imt^itmmm'mim»m^^mmM,m»mm^mmai^mmmam»m^tm» .^ ■ — ■ ■ ■ w ■ ■■ ■■ ■ m ■■■ .1 m^p. ■■■ ■■-■fc.— ■«■■■■ ^« ■ ■ ■■ /:. The whole creation is embraced and permeated by this holy light, and by virtue of it the whole content and all forms of Ufe are revealed and ex- pressed. : : ; Each soul is permeated by the light of truth and is unable to give a true statement without its demand and sanction. In all our mental searching and sentimental long- ing we want to see and to have the true and not the false understanding. Because of the understanding and feeling of the • holiness of truth we loathe and disdain falsehood. Divine truth surrounds holiness as light surrounds fire and is as inseparable from holiness as the revela- tion of an act is inseparable from the act itself. Truth is the shining might of God, through which God is seen in His real Divinity, absolutely tran- scending the whole being, regardless of its magnitude. The absolute oneness, the absolute perfection and the absolute eternity of God constitute the resound- ing voice of truth in the whole creation. We are overwhelmed by the grandeur of Divine creation of which we see only an infinitesimal frag- ment. This overwhelming fragment of creation is the ^ consequence of only ^ little motion of die almighty COD 19 ■■I ' H WHITf .W.. " t creatiyene$8 of God, the fulness of whicK is beydnd our human vision. Truth* being the revelation of Divine holiness, must be searched for with holy sentiments, with intense veraciousness and with the sacrificial spirit which truth itself reveals. Darkness, confusion and ignorance derive from the lack of love for holy light. Divine Omniscience What is Divine Omniscience? Divine Omniscience is the application of Divine Truth to Divine Holiness. Truth, being inseparable from Holiness, follows Holiness like a vision that follows each activity. Truth is the visual attribute of God and the activity of this visual attribute is omniscience. God is supercohscious of the inexhaustible, ever- inspiring and beatifying might and treasures of His dominating holiness as well as of the creative al- mightiness which derives from His holiness. God's plan of creation is holy, full of truth and sacrifice and, accordingly, the whole creation is pre- determined to holiness, to truth and to sacrifice. It has no other aim. God calls into life an incalculable number of 20 RELIGION OF THE SOUL spiritual beings in order to participate in, cooperate with and affirm His Divinity and to affirm them- selves in His holy, perfect and beatifying eternity. In order to impart His Divine superspirit, God creates spiritual beings, endowed with immortal will, intellect and sentiment, for the purpose of following His holy Will, of seeing His holy Truth and of embracing His holy Love. This is the true reason and destiny of our life, which accords us the immortal honor of divine child- ship, which we feel in the depth of our inwardness and the desecration of which causes our debasement, falsehood and spiritual misery with its awful con- sequences. This we are told plainly by the immovable, under- dwelling and everpresent divine superspirit which we call conscience, on which each soul lives and with- out which no soul can live. The fact that we have the consciousness of holi- ness, truth and love, and. the fact that this trinity of holy life is the basic form of all righteous and har- monious relations, proves overwhelmingly our direct relation to the dominating Will of God. Once this predetermined relation is obscured, weakened or severed, sins and crimes take hold of the soul like weeds in uncultivated ground and establish themselves therein. GOD 21 Divine omniscience constitutes the superessential source of Divine predestination and therefore sees each motion of every soul like an open book. The soul itself is like a living book, in which all deeds, thoughts and sentiments are engraved by the ineffaceable might of divine justice. The form and face of each being proves this fact plainly. Divine Omnipresence What is Divine Omnipresence? Divine Omnipresence is the continuous manifesta- tion of Divine mights. Our souls and the whole natural universe live by virtue of Divine mights only. Nothing can live by virtue of its own force, be- cause this force must be created in order to live. That it is created is evident in the manifestation of its fundamental plan of life. The plan of the soul's life is worthiness, truth and love. The power of will is for the sake of our worth- iness, which is the chief interest of our lives. The power of intellect is for the sake of seeing and understanding the holy truth of God, that we may be essentially truthful and by this truthfulness maintain our supreme honor as children of God. The power of heart is for the sake of preserving. 22 RELIGION OF THE SOUL guarding and cultivating the sublimest and puiiest sentiments* that we may continually have the beati- fying taste and joy of holy life. The consequences of following this Divine plan are manifest in the noble achievements of great souls, and equally manifest in sinfulness and dishonor are the consequences for those who disregard this holy plan. This is the omnipresence of the creative plan of God. But a more tangible omnipresence of God is in our conscience, where God is not only our Creator, but also our heavenly Father, Guide and Savior. In conscience dwells the everpresent contact of Divine superspirituality with our spiritual essence. It is a strictly personal contact, by virtue of which we are uplifted, encouraged, rejoiced and blessed in our good deeds, and admonished, restrained, threat- ened and punished for our evil deeds. Thus the attention to the heavenly Voice of God is of the utmost importance and the object of our most ardent solicitude. None can live worthily, maintain his spiritual honor and grow in worthiness and holy life without being in continuous contact with the omnipresent Voice of God. The first fall of the soul is the result of the in- GOD 23 ^g^m0mmmtmm0K^mm»mmimi»mmmtm>mmmm^am in i^ i ^^^^mh>m^»— ^ ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■■ ■ i ■ ■ ^ ai ■ »#— i^— ii^i^^Wi i ■ fc - *Mfc ■■ ■ ■ I ■■ i* ■MMMWfc**^Mii*fci*W*ii— *■— ^llMW> ' ' attention to God*8 holy Voice, and habitual sinful- ness comes from habitual inattention to His holiest Voice. The Voice of God is the ultimate verdict in all our decisions, thoughts and sentiments and each im- portant issue is judged by this holy verdict. The virtuous soul prefers to die rather than be faithless to the holy Voice of God. The Almighty Attributes Pertaining to THE Love of God Divine Love What is Divine Love? Divine Love is the giving might of God, the might of sacrifice. Holiness is sacrificial in its action, truth is sacri- ficial in its light and love is the divine issue and rev- elation of sacrificial holiness and truth. Therefore, nothing is worthy unless it is holy and nothing is true unless the testimony is holy. Evil deeds and falsehoods are denounced on the ground that they are neither holy nor true. Our conscience, our very soul, everything that lives, indeed the whole creation, is the evident and universal fact of Divine sacrifice. Nothing is esteemed unless it has the spirit of sacri- 24 RELIGION OF THE SOUL (ice and nothing is considered unless it has some sacrificial value. For this reason the love of God has always and will always be supremely adored, and for this reason also each act of human sacrifice is so highly admired and extolled. Were it not for the sacrificial sublimity of life, our soul, driven by the misery of its own selfishness, would, as a result of utter worthlessness, strive to destroy itself. Divine sacrifice is the very love and life of God, the sole purpose and plan of His Divinity. Accordingly, all that is made by God is made for the sake of sacrifice, which is the supreme real- ity of holy life. Therefore, each meritorious deed is .judged by the purity and volume of its sacrificial motive. As in God, so in each virtuous soul, sacrifice is the supreme reality of life, and, according to the measure of this holy reality, each soul obtains its station in the future life. Among the countless selfish ambitions of life a quiet and blessing sacrifice always stands out and all who have conscience and honor in their inward- ness lift their eyes and hearts to this sacrifice as to the saving anchor of life. Divine sacrifice is the holy guide of worthy life. GOD 25 which insists on the holy life with God and leaves no alternative but the unholy life without God. The proofs of holy life are sacrificial de^ds and the proofs of unholy life are selfish ambitions, selfish mentality and selfish sentiments. Divine Justice What is Divine Justice? Divine justice is the eternal guardian of holy values. It upholds the righteousness and the dignity of holy deeds, of holy thoughts and of holy senti- ments. Divine justice is the eternal might of holy execu- tion. No soul, no form of religion, no nation and no community has an assured station and power with- out the sanction of the justice of God. The whole activity of our life, our honor, our rights and our duties, adheres to and depends on the ruling justice of God. Were it possible to eliminate justice from our conscience, the entire humanity would become in- carnate devils. Our most incessant and most practical work is the work of justice. All our acts, all our thoughts and all our sentiments continually stand before this supreme tribunal from which is proclaimed the ab- solute verdict. 2« RELIGION OE THE SOUL ^— ^ ~^-~'— — ■ 1 rr" -rn- -rii^-TiT ■ i - i i -r r ■ i- r M- i* ¥ « ■■■■ 1 1 am 1 1 ii hmtm ■ i i ii i - r i - ' --' ~ ■ I I ■ II I I I ■ ■■ I I II I ■ I ■ !■■ ■ , n» ::. Divine justice strengthens: the virtuous soul' in his earthly sufiering and bids him to await in patience the time of his deliverance. In the same way it fol- lows the criminal soul which searches in vain for a path of escape. Divine justice, being the executive might of Divine love, is supremely charitable. It immediately blesses and rewards each good deed, thought and senti- ment in our inwardness by imparting greater dig- nity, clearer vision and profounder sentiments and thus prepares us for higher spheres of beatitude in our future life. It also expostulates with and punishes the evil in our inwardness through the lowering of our sense of worthiness, through the feeling of shame, through confused thoughts and through the denunciation of our selfish sentiments. This fact is strictly charitable, because its purpose is to guard and sustain the dignity of the soul, that it may rise to God and be blessed in His eternity^. All courses of Divine justice are charitable, but the alternative is inexorable. The one, who, in his malice and perversity, disdains charity and does not wish to live in charity, must live beyond the pale of charity, in the dark and low spheres of animal life. Even in these low spheres the holy gates of GOD 27 charity are op^n, and through these gates the lowest souls must take their painful course of atonement Their debts are enormous, and every part of the debt must be paid. No soul can escape this inexorable demand of Divine justice, but the one who performs the act of restitution receives bountiful assistance from the goodness of God and every good man. : Thus justice begins and ends in charity, for justice is the executing motive of the supreme charity of God. Divine Goodness What is Divine Coodness? Divine goodness is the holy sympathy of God toward His creatures. This holy sympathy derives from the might of all Divine perfections; it is their eternal breath and fragrance. For this reason everything good is so attractive and beautiful. In Divine holiness lies the eternal source of good- ness. In Divine truth shines the eternal light of goodness and in Divine love dwells the eternal warmth and joy of goodness. Goodness is the most effective superspiritual might 28 RELIGION OF THE SOUL of Divinity. Hence each soul, be it superhuman, human or animal, wants and longs for goodness, it loves to see goodness and is most strongly attracted by goodness. Take away the might, the light and the joy of goodness from our life and, immediately, we lose faith in God and man. Without goodness we become devoted only to our selfish desires and, such being the result, we be- come devoid of all feeling of gratitude. The eternal sympathy of God is the holy bond of all human relations. Its might imparts binding sympathy. It introduces friendships and love, the dearest treasures of life. It confounds, shames and disarms the wicked by the power of its beauty and innocence. Not only men but even animals are enthralled by goodness and made better by its might. For this reason, and particularly in our low world, goodness has the greatest saving might. It saves the sinner from habitual trespasses. It paves the path to heaven, for in itself it is the divine guide to heaven that gently invites our souls to Divine eternity, the final goal of our life. Goodness is the eternal beauty of Divinity. Hence no man, regardless of fame, is beautiful unless he is good. GOD 29 As in God goodness constitutes the last attribute of His almighty love, thus in man the test of his true honor, worthiness and sublimity of character is found in the degree of his goodness. Therefore, according to the measure of his good deeds he receives his deserved station in the future life. CONSGIENCE What is conscience? Conscience is the living image of Divinity, the living reflex of Divine life and the sublimest gift of God. To Tvhat end does Cod create conscience? God creates conscience for the sake of the soul, that it may participate in divine life, cooperate with His holy Will and affirm God in its inwardness and itself in God. What does conscience effect in our soul? Conscience effects in our soul its affinity to God, its affiliation with God and the power of imitating God*s holiest life. The consequence of this state is that conscience constitutes the holy form of our soul, which is the ground, the bond and the might of religion. For this reason the might of conscience is the sole urging, enlightening and righteous might of the soul. Everything sublime and important is performed through conscience and everything base is performed without conscience. 30 CONSCIENCE 31 All great deeds, all profound convictions and all spiritual sacrifices have their source in the sacredness of conscience. Religion in its purity is the simple life of conscience and the fact that, in our human cults, conscience has not been propounded and explained as the sole source and form of religion accounts for the failure of the living faith in God and for the selfish ambi- tions, envies, jealousies, greed and w^orldy lust of men under the cover of religion. Conscience is the most palpable gift of God. Everybody refers to conscience, everybody uses conscience and everybody depends on it, but only a few love conscience and make it the chief interest of deeds, thoughts and sentiments. Where the interest in conscience is tardy and pas- sive, selfish and dishonorable aims become the chief interest of our lives. Without conscience, no love of God, no love of our neighbor, no righteousness, no mutuality among men, no living religion, no true sense of human dig- nity, no esteem for virtue, no truthfulness and no pure sentiments can exist. It cannot be otherwise, for conscience is the sacrificial form of the speaking Voice of God and the living reflex of His holiest attributes. 32 RELIGION OF THE SOUL The Eternal Origin and Form of Conscience The manifestation of any power or force of life is possible only when there is an origin and motive for its manifestation. Since conscience is the imperative manifestation of worthy life, its origin and motive lies in Divine holiness, the absolute Will of God. That conscience imparts to and demands from us worthiness, truth and love is a universally accepted fact which cannot be denied even by the wicked. Each soul appeals to the might of conscience though it does not always follow it. Conscience, being our supreme law and sole power of right, can only derive from the holiness of God, the sole source and might of all laws. No law is as complete, concrete and consistent as conscience, for, issuing from the holiness, truth and love of God, it constitutes the immutable ground, course and aim of worthy life. If this holy fact is not clearly understood and not accepted as the supreme guide of life, the logical and rightful basis for •religion, personal honor, veracity and love of worthy life is impossible. Conscience is the formal sacrificial emanation of Divine attributes. Its form is as commanding as the Divine attributes are majestic. CONSCIENCE 33 It leads, inspires, enlightens, beatifies and sanctifies each soul which has not denied its spiritual dignity. It is the first recourse of the righteous and the last refuge of the sinner. All inward and lasting joy derives from the blessing consecration of good deeds and all inward wretchedness from the denunciation of conscience for our evil deeds. Conscience is the supreme rule of life, because it represents the holy Will of God. All determina- tions, all visions and all inward convictions are sub- jected to its holy scrutiny. Its verdict is supreme. Conscience is the most religious fact in our life and the one who does not adore, contemplate and love conscience over everything else has no religion in his inwardness. True spiritual inwardness consists in the life in conscience, with conscience and according to con- science, for conscience is the sole living contact, the indissoluble bond of the soul with God and the highest title and noblest distinction of our divine childship. Conscience is the living image of Divine attributes, the superspiritual ground according to which the soul is formed and on which the soul essentially lives for the sake of participating in, cooperating with and affirming itself in the holiest life of God. 34 RELIGION OF THE SOUL As the superspiritual reflex of Divine attributes, it must be absolutely formal, and, being the dominat- ing factor of the souFs life, it is absolutely concrete and consistent in its order and in its demand. For this reason conscience is the holy urger of our wills, the holy torch of our intellects and the holy guardian of our hearts. The superspiritual form of conscience follows the holy mights of God, as each movement follows its motor. Spiritual worthiness follows superspiritual holiness, spiritual truthfulness follows superspiritual truth, and spiritual love follows superspiritual sacri- fice. This trinity of Divine mights is clearly evident in conscience and everybody appeals to these Divine mights as to the highest causes of our life. Here man protests his worthiness or his submission to worthiness. Here he invokes the holy testimony of divine truth or is confounded by it, and here he receives the assurance of worthiness in the perform- ance of virtuous deeds or the condemnation for unholy and selfish deeds. In Tvhat consists the formality of conscience? The formality of conscience consists in the formal reflex of and correspondence with Divine attributes, which are its eternal prototype. CONSCIENCE 35 Holiness is the principle of Divinity, Perfection is its course and Eternity its aim. Accordingly, worthiness is the superspiritual principle of conscience, fortitude is its course, and beatitude its aim. As the holiness of God inherently possesses per- fection and eternity, thus, in the reflecting form of conscience, worthiness possesses fortitude and beati- tude. Pertaining to Divine truth, the same threefold form of conscience is plainly seen. Divine truth is the contemplating might of God and, as such, is omniscient and omnipresent, omni- science being the course and omnipresence the aim of this contemplating Divine might. Accordingly, the contemplating might of God reflects divine light, as the principal form of con- science pertaining to truth. Divine omniscience reflects wisdom in conscience, as the course of rational understanding of things divine. And Divine omnipresence reflects simplicity, as the evident aim of truthful life and truthful state- ments. Pertaining to Divine Love, the threefold form of conscience is equally clear. Divine Love is the sacrificial might of God and. 36 RELIGION OF THE SOUL ai such, contains absolute justice and goodness, justice being the course and goodness its final aim and revelation. Accordingly* the sacrificial might of God reflects sacrifice as the principal form of conscience pertain- ing to love. Divine justice reflects righteousness in conscience as the formal course of pure love. And Divine goodness reveals in conscience the divine origin of conscience, with its most potent, beautiful and practical effectiveness of worthy life. This logical consistency of Divine attributes with the forms of conscience must be fully understood in order that we may see clearly the overwhelming im- portance of religious life. It is through these holy forms of conscience that we see and feel the mights of God with their im- fathomable profundity, awe inspiring immutability and incomparable sublimity. Each of these holy forms of conscience speaks in our inwardness of God and not only lurges our self- consciousness to seek for God and to contemplate His holy mights, but it also urges our self-sentiency to follow Him. For no other reason except for the sake of fol- lowing God are we endowed with this living reflex CONSCIENCE 37 of Divinity, the sublimest and most precious gift of our souls. In this holy form of conscience we see the majestic order of Divine attributes, the real Face of God» and we hear His absolute and sanctifying Voice as the eternal oracle of all life. From this holy source are derived the inspirations of all great prophecies* great illuminating thoughts and the profoundest sentiments of holy love. Thus the Voice of God is the eternal object of the religious sacramentality of the soul, and the one who possesses profound love of conscience, possesses the supreme power of divine sonship. The Commanding Might of Conscience Since conscience is the issue of the majestic holi- ness of God, it in itself constitutes the commanding and sanctifying might of the soul. Each form of conscience constitutes a command- ment, because each of its dictates is sanctifying. Each commandment demands the virtue of each particular form of our spiritual soul, that each form of our will, intellect and sentiment may be sanc- tified. Therefore, the frame of virtues corresponds with the frame of conscience, as the frame of conscience 38 RELIGION OF THE SOUL corresponds with the prototype of the holiest at- tributes of God. All we require to see is the correspondence of the forms of our soul with conscience and the necessity of virtues as the ground and aim of existence. This will give us the clear view of the plan of . the superspiritual and spiritual creation of God, the understanding of which is absolutely necessary for every seriously religious man. There is an absolute order in Divine creation. This order lies eternally in the Divine attributes, from which all order derives. And, if this order is not clearly understood, we can have neither living faith in nor devotion and gratitude to God. THE SOUL What is the soul? The soul is a spiritual force consisting in self- conscious and self-sentient autonomic tvilL Wh'^ is the soul a personal being? The soul is a spiritual and personal being because it is the created reflex of the superspiritual and super- personal Superbeing of God, from Whom it is con- tinually dependent. JVh^ has the soul a free ivill? The soul has a free will in order freely to par- ticipate in, freely to cooperate with and freely to affirm God, and by so doing af&rm itself in God. If the soul were not free, the spiritual essence of the soul could not exist; it would not be e^ spiritual being, but a natural thing ; it could have no personal responsibility, attain no personal merit and no joy deriving therefrom. All joy derives from the merit of a highly accomplished responsibility. Why is the souVs ivill self-conscious? The will of the soul is self-conscious because it must know its own relative capacity; it must know 39 40 RELIGION OF THE SOUL the superspiritual rule of its spiritual life; it must know the merit of its existential station and the honor deriving from the choice of good actions as well as the debasement following the choice of evil actions. Thus the fundamental meaning of the will's self- consciousness is the consciousness of conscience. Only in the eternal mirror of conscience does the self- conscious will see its actual form and capacity. The fact that our religious and psychological sciences have thus far been unable to explain this essential problem of knowledge accounts for our failure to understand the first principles of life, and our consequent inefficiency in religious actions. Every man, without any exception, has the ex- perience that the oftener he looks into the holy mirror of conscience, the more plainly he sees the mights of God and the more palpably he feels the religious might which holds, enlightens and leads his soul. Why is the souVs tpUI self -sentient? The soul's will is self-sentient because it must feel the delight of its existence for worthiness, the delight of all its good deeds, thoughts and sentiments, as well as the shame and depression resulting from evil deeds, evil thoughts and evil sentiments. The main interest of the will is in its self-sentiency. THE SOUL 41 because self-sentiency is the center of the heart, the fruitional focus of the soul's life. The chief labor of the will dwells in its self-* sentiency, the sentimental ground in which all senti- ments are implanted and cultivated in order to bear the sacrificial fruit of holy life. For this reason the sentiments which the will has chosen, acquired and placed in its heart constitute the real property of the soul, which neither God nor man can destroy without the consent of the soul's will. In this fact the freedom of the will is seen most clearly. Sentiments cannot be wholly given away nor can they be taken away. They constitute the most deeply inrooted property of the soul. They can however be uplifted by divine operation or de- based by willful rejection of the divine operation in conscience. In what relation is consciousness to self-conscious" ness? Consciousness relates to self-consciousness as does the movement to the motor. Consciousness is the course of self-consciousness by which the self-con- scious will obtains general knowledge. The principle of intellect lies in self-consciousness, as the integral part of the soul's will, while intellect 42 RELIGION OF THE SOUL as such, is the process or course of the self^onscious will through which it obtains general knowledge. G>nsequently, religious knowledge always de- pends on the religious self -consciousness of the soul's will. If the will earnestly wishes to attain religious knowledge, it can always obtain this sacred pos- session. If however the will does not earnestly wish to do so, it cannot obtain this knowledge. Religious knowledge is the most sacred and precious knowl- edge and can be attained only through the most profound determination. This fact gives us the psychological insight into the reason why some ob- tain religious vision and education and why others remain in ignorance of all matters pertaining to re- ligion. The first sign of profound intelligence is the earnest and intense searching for religion in the soul ; for the divine purpose in us. The whole formation of man's character depends on the earnestness of this search. One may be ever so learned in many sciences, yet, if he has neglected religion as the first science of life, he remains a weak character. There is no science except religion that can educate a great character. We see that a child is a practical materialist, be- cause it is too ignorant and selfish to understand the THE SOUL 43 spiritual values of life. We know that in our progressing years we begin to philosophize on the problem of life, either dogmatically or skeptically, and, in our maturity, we usually decide to cling to religious and moral values under one form or an- other. What is the relation of sentiment to self -sentience? Sentiment is in the same relation to self -sen tiency as is consciousness to self-consciousness. Self-senti- ency is the principle of feeling and sentiment its process or movement. All sentiments are absorbed by the self-sentiency of the will into the inwardness of its heart, the vessel of all its acquisitions. The will has the power to acquire whatever senti- ments it wants. Its inherent capacity is to seize. Its self-consciousness furnishes the light with which the will makes its choice. And self-sentiency is the place where all the acquisitions of the will are in- stalled and held. The will is the obtainer and the giver of senti- ments. If the will has acquired good sentiments and given good sentiments, it has obtained the best it could obtain and has given the best it could give. If the will has acquired evil sentiments and imparted evil sentiments, it has obtained the worst it could obtain and has given the worst it could give. 44 RELIGION OF THE SOUL It is always the choice of the will which makes its own heart and it is always according to the good or evil content of the heart that the soul is Judged. The content of the heart is the sole real property of the soul. Inwardly the soul can do nothing ex- cept to make and to unmake its own sentiments ac- cording to which all external acquisitions and pos- sessions are measured and valued. i The Reason for the Existence of the Soul Like anything else that exists the soul must be understood not only according to its intrinsic capacity for but also according to its intrinsic purpose of existence. The soul's inward capacity is self-conscious and self-sentient volition. The will of the soul is created for a purpose, be- cause its whole capacity consists of purposefulness. Its self-consciousness is for the purpose of the knowl- edge of its life, and its self-sen tiency for the inward feeling of the necessity of this purpose and the joy of its possession. If we do not know the "reason why*' of our life we know nothing real, and any attempted inter- pretation without this fundamental religious under- standing is necessarily futile. THE SOUL 45 What then is the intrinsic purpose of the existence • of the soul? Speaking of existence* we must understand that existence is not a cause but a state which is caused, and everything that exists is caused with a purpose. The ahnightly Causator of all purposes is God. There is none besides Him who can cause anything that bears the mark of absoluteness, such as is clearly manifested in the absolute lawfulness of the souFs capacity and of the whole natural creation. Thus the intrinsic purpose of the existence of the soul is the divine purpose, the purpose of the al- mighty holiness of God, the purpose of the holiest truth of God and the purpose of the holiest love of God which lives on Divine sacrifice. This divine purpose of the creation of the soul causes the soul's affinity to God, the soul's affiliation with God and the soul's power of imitating God; which means, that the soul is created for the partici* pation in Divine life, for the cooperation with Divine life and for the affirmation of the holy Source of its life as well as for the affirmation of its own life in the life of God. This is the holy and majestic purpose of our existence. We perceive the urgency of this pur- pose in all worthy decisions, we experience its truth in the necessity for our truthfulness and we feel the 46 RELIGION OF THE SOUL joy of this holy purpose in all sacrificial and un- selfish deeds of love. * This holy purpose is the ground on which the soul marches to its destiny. It is the light throu^ which all things are seen in their naked truth, and it is the holy warmth of love which seeks for no ad- vantage over others but is happy to impart its in- ward and outward possessions for the service of its fellow creatures. Holy, holy, holy is the resounding hymn of heaven, where the purity of great purposes, the brightness of enlightening understanding and the warmth of love-filled hearts constitute the great powers of sanctified souls. Here the affinity to God is realized, the affilia- tion with God attained and the imitation of God accomplished. Here the Divine purpose of our life is fulfilled. The Great Destiny of the Soul The holy reason and divine purpose of the souFs life carries the souPs great destiny within itself, be- cause this reason is the first cause, and destiny the ultimate aim of life. The creation, as God's sacrificial act, implies His Divine fatherhood and the inward structure of the THE SOUL 47 soul, which is the relative image of God, implies our divine childship. This is tne clearly logical, su- premely rational and most profoundly sentimental relation of the soul to God. Everything we have comes from God. Our wills, our minds, our hearts, our bodies and all conditions of life come from Him, except our willful sins with their consequent dishonor, falsehood and misery. This is why we are conscious that everything worthy, true and lovable is divine, according to the holy Will of God, and that everything unworthy, false and hateful is undivine, against the holy Will of God. Each man, regardless of culture, is con- scious of this plain fact, save only the one who is morally demented. Divine fatherhood and divine childship constitute the real focus of religion, through which God im- parts the gift, the rule and the immortal joy of life. In this holy gift dwells immortal glory, the magnificent brightness of truth and the neverceasing ardor and beatitude of sacrificial love and mutuality. The soul must be glorious, because by the act of divine creation it participates in Divinity. The soul must be true, because it is called to cooperate with God. The soul must live on sacrifice, because, being an issue of divine sacrifice, it must prove its glorious life 48 RELIGION OF THE SOUL through rendering sacrifice for sacrifice, the supreme affirmation of the holiest life of God and of our holy life in Him. Are our little souls capable of such a great aim of life? They are, most decidedly. We have a will for worthy actions, the mind for truth and a heart for pure love, and we know that any other purpose brings dishonor and debasement, and inflicts punish- ment and causes misery. It is true that our human souls are very little souls, with only an incipient consciousness and senti- ment of conscience and of our spiritual aim. But it is equally true that, unless we are awakened to the understanding of the great cause and destiny of our spiritual life, we shall be unable to strive for it. We are fallen souls, far removed from the im- mediate presence of God. We have fallen of our own will from the heavenly heights of eternity, the cradle of our holy origin, to incalculably distant spheres where severe providential conditions urge us to seek for God, to regain the lost inspiration, vision and love of our holiest Father and to retrace our steps to Him. The soul that disdains the holiness, truth and love of God cannot live in His proximity. With each in- THE SOUL 49 creasing distance from God the soul becomes weaker in worthy actions, more confused in its understand- ing and more deficient in pure and subHme senti- ments. HoTv do Tve know that ive are fallen souls? From the fact of our sinful state, and from the particular sinful predisposition of our sentiments. Predispositions, as proved by psychological facts, are acquired through particular habits of the will. Each soul, arriving in this or any other sphere of existence, has very distinct predispositions and in- clinations which could not be manifested unless acquired in former phases of life. Predispositions are the inward sentimental life of the soul, and sentimental life is an acquisition which is invariably the result of the soul's endeavor. Any one who desires to know his past life need only look at the demand of conscience, and then at his own relation to and correspondence with the Voice of God, and soon he will see the main condi- tions of his essential history. Why does the soul feel the lack of dignity, power and beatitude, if it has not lost it? Why is it con- scious of its mental inability to understand the so- called "great mystery" of the whole creation, if it never had any consciousness of it? And why is the 50 RELIGION OF THE SOUL soul so conscious of the smallness and perversity of the human heart, if it has not forsaken the might and joy of holy love? Wh^ do Tve not remember our past lives? For the simple reason that memory is neither the cause nor the rule and aim of our existence. The real cause, however, we remember always. Other facts are not worth remembering. The sooner all evils are forgotten the better is our in- ward state. We are not even conscious of the time and place of our arrival on this earth and the same ignorance may extend to the beginning of many lives in the hereafter. Is this evidence that we do not exist? Assuming the possibility of remembering all of our innumerable past lives, covering millions on millions of years, of what avail would this memory be to us? We should see the indescribable grandeurs of our past lives and, at the same time, the gradual fall to our present low state or beneath it. In our present debasement such recollections would fill our small souls with inexpressible despondency and lead many to inevitable despair. The traditional teaching that of ourselyes we are nothing, or sheer wickedness worthy of eternal damnation, is only an exaggerated sentiment derived THE SOUL 5 1 from the subconsciousness of our fall, even without remembering historical details. How would a serious man feel, were he conscious, through memory, that once he had been a great, powerful and beautiful spirit and, through disregard of his imparted dignity, had gradually lost the great powers of worthy volition, of high mentality and sublime sentiments, and through consecutive falls had descended to the level of an ape or a poison- ous reptile? Animals are souls. They have self-conscious and self-sentient volition like our own and all souls above us. But their evil determinations have filled them with criminal and frivolous predispositions, and thus they are formed according to their inward state. Terrible is the justice of God for those who will to become and remain wicked. Yet, even in this dreadful state, God extends His mercy through the little joys they are allowed to have and through the opportunity to enter through the ever open gate to higher spheres. We shall have the full recollection of our past lives the moment we reach the state of the utmost love of our destiny. Then we shall be happy to forget our falls, as we now vainly strive to forget our trespasses, even during our short sojourn on this little earth. 52 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Partial recollections of past lives may be possible in the intermediate state of the souFs ascent to or its recession from God, but they are ony partial recollections, without any direct value relatively to our inward state. The Fulfillment of our Holy Destiny The fulfillment of our destiny consists in the em- ployment of all our spiritual forces and natural con- ditions for the participation in Divine life, in order to attain immortal glory, holy light and eternal beatitude. The more or less conscious feeling of this great destiny moves our inwardness, and the whole dis- content of our life results from our failure to heed and follow this holy path. We receive our wills for the performing of glori- ous deeds, we receive our minds for the understand- ing of absolute truth, and we receive our hearts for the attainment of the purest and noblest sentiments. Anything contrary to this holy purpose of our spiritual forces is wicked, because false and base. For this reason, the fulfillment of our holy destiny is imperative. We have no real freedom, except in God and for things divine. All unholy deeds are an abuse of sacred freedom and a negation of the holy cause and aim of life. THE SOUL 53 No soul can shirk the eternal call of divine destiny without the inexorable consequences of the debase- ment of character and bitter strife in daily life. Our whole life consists of plans for the future. All our decisions, all our thinking and sentiments are clearly made for the future. Ejvery conscientious man performs his duties with a view to his future. The performance of each duty, as we all know, is a stepping stone to worthy life and a greater future, and yet we remain dull to the issue of our great destiny. There is no sense to duty unless the duty of life as a holy life is the ground of all daily duties and the duties of all ages. The fulfillment of our holy destiny is the com- mandment of life itself and the power through which all our duties are performed. Thus, according to the plans of Divine creation, we must know the plan of our own life in order to be the true children of God. We know of God through His holiest attributes. We know that conscience is the superspiritual reflex of His holiest attributes. Consequently, conscience is as formal and commanding as the Divine attributes are harmonious and majestic. We must see this holy conscience in its super- spiritual form, and the corresponding structure of our 54 RELIGION OF THE SOUL spiritual soul with this form, in order to realize the necessity of virtues, as the sole worthy power and rule of religious life. All complaints pertaining to the inefficiency of religious teachings arise from the fact that conscience and virtues are not taught as the real basis of re- ligion. And where conscience and virtues are not the first issue in religion, a living faith in God and love of mankind are impossible. VIRTUES THE ETERNAL VOICE OF GOD IN CONSCIENCE AND THE SUBSTANCE OF RELIGION Holiness, truth and love constitute the eternal life and dominion of God and, consequently, the eternal order of the whole creation. The eternal plan of creation is the Divine Ufe itself. Will, intellect and sentiment constitute the im^ mortal Ufe of the soul and, in consequence of its dependence from the absolutely dominating life of God, these spiritual forces adhere to the plan of Divine life with overwhelming evidence. Our will is created for holiness, our intellect is created for truth, and our sentiment is created for love divine. Any other interpretation of the aim and purpose of our spiritual forces and plan of life is false and wicked and thus it universally proves itself in actual practice. A will without submission to holiness would be a purely destructive force, an incarnate evil. An in- tellect without truth would be unimaginable insanity. And a heart without a trace of pure love the most execrable thing in creation. 55 56 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Each moment of our life is in continuous con- tact with the commanding mights of Divine holiness, truth and love in conscience. But we must see this holy contact formally in order to understand the grandeur and might of rehgion. God is Holiness, Truth and Love. This is the supreme superspiritual name of God, by virtue of which the whole creation is called into being and by virtue of which it is ruled and led to its eternal destiny. In human words, holiness is the one, perfect and eternal will of God. Truth is the Divine mind with its eternal contemplation, omniscience and omni- presence. And Love is the Divine heart revealing eternal sacrifice, justice and goodness. This is the holiest form of the Divine Superper- sonality, whose reflex constitutes the superspiritual form of conscience. Only in conscience can we find, see and feel God and His holy mights ; and the fact that conscience is so little heeded, studied and scrutinized, and so little loved, accounts for the lack of religion in humanity, for the wretchedness of the human char- acter and for the low standards of honor, truthful- ness and mutual affection. The most sacred thing that God has given us is not worshipped, not esteemed and not loved with SUBSTANCE OF RELIGION 57 the fullness of our hearts. Consequently, man is bound to love unsacred things with consequent strife and abominations. In terms of Divine mights and with respect to His Holiness, God is, first, the holiest Oneness, the center and ground of supreme majesty. Second, God is holy Perfection, the absolute source .of His al- mightiness. Third, God is holy Eternity, which is the holy state, of His Divine life. With respect to His holiest Truth, God is, first, the eternal Contemplation of His Holiness, by virtue of which eternally issues the Divine revelation and the plan of His Divine creation. Second, God is holy Omniscience, by virtue of which everything that is made by Him is predestined according to His holy plan to participate in His Divine life. Third, God is holy Omnipresence, wherefrom issues His providential might. With respect to His holiest Love, God is, first, the supreme Sacrifice, through which He imparts life to souls for the purpose of participating in His life Divine, and guides their lives accordingly. Sec- ond, God is supreme Justice, by virtue of which the holy gifts of life are guarded and providential condi- tions of life allotted to each soul according to its nearness to or distance from Him. Third, God is supreme Goodness, the last expression of His Di- 58 RELIGION OF THE SOUL vinity, by virtue of which all forces of spiritual life are attracted, blessed and saved from destruction. Thus in the holiest love of God we see the three most tangible manifestations of God, relatively to our own life, with expressions and names universally invoked by the positive spirit of all religious traditions and aspirations, namely, God as our holy Father, Lord and Saviour. The name of "Fatherhood** means sacrifice, the might of giving and solicitude. The name "Lord" conveys justice, the sole means of dominion and authority. And the name "Saviour** means the beati- fying might of goodness, which imparts itself to the worthy and unworthy with equal readiness, how- ever varied be its might of distribution. Goodness follows justice as justice follows love, the sacrificial focus and momentum of holy life. From these Divine attributes flows the formal superspiritual reflex of the mights and life of God. This living reflex of Divinity we call conscience, as it is in itself, which constitutes the superspiritual ground of our spiritual soul. The soul is not only urged, guided and blessed by the superspiritual might of conscience, but the very souFs forces are so formed as to correspond with conscience. VIRTUES OF THE WILL 59 What forms constitute the reflex of Divine attributes pertaining to THE Will of God? The attributes pertaining to the Will of God are Holiness^ Perfection and Eternity. Consequently their superspiritual reflexes in conscience are the virtues of humility, fortitude and beatitude. The Virtue of Humility Why is humility the commanding voice of holiness? Because holiness, being the most adorable ma- jesty of God, demands unreserved submission to the most adorable and majestic Will of God in order that the soul may participate in Divine Life. A relative being, as the soul is, must, by virtue of this fact, follow the absolute Life of God through free submission to this holiest life in order to sus- tain the dignity, the truth and the joy of its own life. Humility is the supreme demand of conscience and the basic state of the soul's worthiness, the state of participating in the life of God. Consequently, humility constitutes the highest attainable reality and the fundamental virtue of the souFs will. In humility the soul finds God as the eternal Be- stower of its life and of its dignity, which is the dignity of divine childship, the true honor of life. 60 RELIGION OF THE SOUL What are the main forms of the virtue of humility^? The main forms of humility are faith in and de- votion and gratitude to God. Faith is the affirmation of our affinity to God, devotion the offering of our allegiance to God, and gratitude the bUssful state of the fulfilled imitation of Divine life. This fundamental virtue, in its three forms, is so palpable in our whole life that, if only one of these forms is neglected, disharmony, confusion and bit- terness envelop the soul. We cannot move one step without faith in worthiness, we are discontented and bitter without the worthy object of devotion, and we feel lost without the sentiment of gratitude for worthy gifts. We must have faith in the holiest object of life in order to have an absolute ground and reason for worthy action. Whom shall we trust, if we have no trust in God, the absolute source and prototype of worthy trust? To whom shall we be devoted, if not to Holi- ness, Truth and Love of God, the superessential trinity of His Life and the essential trinity of all worthy deeds, lofty thoughts and worthy long- ings and desires? VIRTUES OF THE WILL 61 To whom are we bound with such profound gratitude if not to God, the eternal Bestower of immortal gifts of life? ^ Is participation in God not worthy of supreme faith in God? Is cooperation with God not worthy of supreme devotion to God? And is the affirmation of God in our inwardness and of our life in God not worthy of profoundest and most vivid gratitude? It is precisely the littleness of our faith in God, the littleness of our devotion to God and the little- ness of our gratitude to God that make our souls so miserably little, with no power for great deeds and no sense for the sublimity of truth and sacrificial sentiments. Without humility there is no bond with God, and, consequently, no true religion of the soul. Humility is the sacrament above all sacraments, the most solemn act of the soul directly sacrated by God. The negation of humility is pride, our greatest and most insidious enemy. Pride is the souFs ten- dency to make itself independent of God. Through pride the soul becomes egocentric and is filled with vain and ruthless ambitions, with per- verted mentaUty and with sentiments of contempt. 62 RELIGION OF THE SOUL envy, hatred, greed and lust, the sources of ail base- ness, crimes and disasters. Once it becomes detached from its holy source, there is no limit to the soul's fall. There are no holy courses without the holy principle of Divinity, and each man with clear reason is fully conscious of this patent fact. Humility and pride are the basic alternatives of our will, and all its tendencies are directed accord- ing to its free choice. Either the soul lives a life of divine childship, a life of conscience, honor, sublime mentality and intensely benevolent sentiments or a life outside of divine childship, without conscience or honor, and characterized by cunning mentality and animal desires. Humility, owing to its power to partake in the life of God, is the highest expression of the soul's spir- itual honor; and, Ukewise pride, owing to its un- willingness to partake in the life of God, is the clear proof of the soul's spiritual dishonor. In vain cries the fool, "there is no God," for the God-given sense of honor clearly contradicts his voice. Honor is a superspiritual might, caused by God, which conmiands and sustains the esteem of worthy deeds, thoughts and sentiments. Pride on the other hand, is a false imitation of honor, an assumption VIRTUES OF THE WILL 63 and a perversion of this divine sense, for the purpose of personal aggrandisement and profit. The honorable soul is filled with worthiness. Its deeds are pure, unselfish and benevolent ; its thoughts are lofty and truthful, and its heart is full of mag- nanimity and kindness. In other words, the honorable soul is strictly re- ligious. It carries the holy reflex of Divinity in its inwardness and never departs from this sublime standpoint. The dishonorable soul, on the other hand, betrays itself through unholy motives, moral and material selfishness and lack of good will, through a low and cunning mind and through the absence of sublimer sentiments. It betrays itself through hatred, con- tempt, envy, greed, bitterness and lust, and never at- tempts to lift itself to holy determinations and visions. Its Ufe is intrinsically irreligious and undivine. In a practical sense everybody knows the differ- ence between these two characters. The Virtue of Fortitude Fortitude is the course of humility, the evolution of profound faith, devotion and gratitude. Souls are the greatest beings in God*s creation, and their aim is spiritual greatness. Greatness demands fortitude; therefore participa- 64 RELIGION OF THE SOUL tion in Divine life, cooperation with Divine life and affirmation of Divine life demand the greatest forti- tude. Nothing great is achieved without fortitude. What are the essential forms of fortitude? The essential forms of fortitude are energy^ for sanctification, perserverance and triumph over the evil. Psychologically, fortitude is energy of will. But energy of will must have the worthiest object for its purpose. Since the worthiest object can be nothing else than sanctification, which means the life in God, fortitude is primarily the energy for sanctification. Nothing less is compatible with the true power of the soul's will. Fortitude is a distinct Divine commandment. God demands that His heavenly offspring be full of holy power, because His holiness is the supreme and sublimest might. God imparts freedom of will for the highest and best, and each man is conscious in his inwardness that he must not abuse freedom for the sake of low and wicked aims. Abuse of freedom causes violence to holy aims, truthful thinking and lofty sentiments, and, there- fore, incurs punishment. Fortitude demands perseverance in virtue. An VIRTUES OF THE WILL 65 occasional effort for the good is the result of holy inspiration, but the virtue of fortitude is habitual. Virtue itself is a holy habit. Hence the effort for sanctification must be sustained by the habitual ap« pUcation of our will power to persevere in fortitude. Perseverance is the logical course in fortitude, the unwearied carrier of the motive of holy life. "Until the end" is its urgent call, for the holy end is worthy of all efforts. The result of fortitude is the triumph over evil, the emancipation from passions and sins. Not until the soul is free from the fetters of ungodly passions can it obtain the full power and experience of holy life. In the triumph over evil, the soul begins to feel its great freedom. Its scope of activity knows no limitations for the accomplishment^ of glorious deeds. Fortitude is the school of will power and he who does not want to enter this school of life has no right to complain of the misery he suffers. The contradiction of the virtue of fortitude is weakness of character, vacillation in worthy purposes and inability to conquer the evil in oneself. Having no living faith in God, no inward devo- tion to His holiness, truth and love, and no gratitude for our holy origin and aim of life, the soul must necessarily be weak in its most important purpose. 66 RELIGION OF THE SOUL in its understanding of the stiperspiritual reality of life and in the impulses of its noblest sentiments. There is nothing to urge the full power of the soul's will, nothing to lift its intellect and nothing to in- spire its heart to sacrificial deeds, all of which are the true tests of the soul's inward honor. Humanity denounces unsacrificial acts as selfish, because such acts are contrary to conscience, the Voice of God. It is distressing to observe how the passions of pride, vanity and sensuality overmaster so many even among the leaders of human destiny. It seems as if there were no sense of virtue, no religion, and no sacred honor in these souls. Con- science and honor are sacrificed to vain ambitions, usually under the pretense of national, economical and social exigencies. To these ends their whole energy is devoted, while the most urgent and the sim- plest purpose to which all energy ought to be de- voted, the education and elevation of the human conscience, is not even attempted. Why? Because there is no fortitude in humanity. There is no church and no educational institution which clearly explains virtues as the living Voice of God and as the ab- solute condition of human dignity and happiness. So long as fortitude is not urged by all leading men, humanity will continue to stumble and fall, as VIRTUES OF THE WILL 67 it always has, and dearly pay for its unvirtuous crav- ings. Where there is no energy of faith in God and no strong devotion and gratitude to Him, the soul can- not do other than vacillate in its purposes and in its mental and sentimental endeavors. Then everything is uncertain. The fatalistic mood seizes the soul, with its doubting spirit, by pointing out distressing facts without explaining the true reason or indicat- ing the true remedy. Fatalism is the most insidious opiate of con- science. It deprives the soul of the inspiration which the living faith in God and our holy destiny imparts. It destroys our best energy and makes us unfit for great and holy achievements. Where fatalism ex- ercises the dominating influence, there can be no up- lifting progress in our spiritual state, no high vision amidst the perplexities of life and no sense of that beautiful joy which is the inward possession of the true child of God. As a result, the soul bows its spirit to the earth, and wastes its little energy in petty selfishness, with its momentary delights and lasting disillusions and griefs. Only the one whose death is the happiest moment in his life gives real proof of fortitude; for, having achieved a worthy life, he, by implicit faith in 68 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Divine justice has prepared himself for a much higher and more beautiful life beyond. The Virtue of Beatitude Beatitude is the virtue which follows humiUty and fortitude as their inevitable result. Humility, by virtue of its faith in and devotion and gratitude to God, is the first determination to live in the grandeur of the childship of God. Forti- tude is the necessary course of humility, the sublimity of which demands the application of all spiritual energy. From these two premises of worthy life, follows the inevitable result of the worthy state of life which is beatitude. What are the essential forms of beatitude? The essential forms of beatitude are securit}^^ peace and jo^ in God. Each of these universal facts is most palpable in each soul. In all conditions, each living creature longs and searches for security, peace and joy. They are the effectual aim and end of all life, for beati- tude is the eternal result of sanctified determinations. Humility constitutes the ground and source of absolute security and he who is not willing to de- pend on God must depend on his own limited re- VIRTUES OF THE WILL 69 sources with their fatalistic promises and disillusions. There is no possibility for true security without the whole-souled participation in Divine life, for participation in the absolute life of God is the ab- solute security of all life. Fortitude is the course of attaining divine security, for without cooperation with the Will of God no path of life is secure. Thus the virtue of beatitude causes the state of absolute security and the highest prospects of im- mortal Ufe. It consists in the affirmation of the Ufe of God in us and of our life in God. The second form of beatitude is inward peace, the logical consequence of security in God. The might of God is so peaceful that only in the soul's profoundest silence can it be clearly seen and felt. There is no clamor in the incessant act of Divine creation, though countless worlds are constantly made and unmade by His might. Silently speaks the Voice of God to us, for His holy Voice is majestic and calm. It urges peace- fully, it leads peacefully, it admonishes and remon- strates peacefully and its holy breath imparts beati- tude. Only the exited passions of our soul are loud and noisy. Examining carefully those who bear a distinct 70 RELIGION OF THE SOUL evidence of divine childship we notice calm self- respect and respect for every other soul. We hear words of deep wisdom. We feel security in their sincerity, peace in their truthfulness and joy in their beautiful modesty. We see their spirit of ready service, of righteousness and unaffected kindness toward man and all other creatures. In these rare souls is a distinct reflex of the indwelling peace of God, deriving from the dependence on Him. Another aspect presents itself when we are con- fronted with those who have no distinct marks of divine childship). Here we observe restless haste, worry and striving for material gain, for mundane satisfaction and for personal vanities. There is little or no spirit of amity and true friendship, little good will toward man, a thoughtless disregard for every- thing holy, a spirit of secrecy, opportune specious- ness and heartlessness. Indeed, strange and in- comprehensible is the peace of God to worldly souls. The last form of beatitude is joy in God. This joy arises from the inward consciousness and senti- ency of our divine childship, the ground of the ever- lasting joy of life. Nothing can approach the joy of participating in Divine holiness. Nothing can com- pare with the joy of cooperating with Divine truth. And nothing can equal the holy joy of imitating VIRTUES OF THE WILL 71 Divine love. It is for the sake of this glorious heavenly joy that God created our souls. Our origin is heaven, the place of our inunortal birth. Only the twisted mentality of man, instigated by perverse sentiments, imagines any other origin. If there is any value, importance or greatness in our life, it must be the greatest possible greatness in existence. This greatness, however, cannot be at- tained on our planet, for its insignificance among the myriads of suns, which in themselves are only small specks in the divine universe, plainly indicates the limitations of our present life. If there is no eternal cause in our life, then every- thing is senseless, then all achievements of great men, all the great thoughts and lofty sentiments of human- ity are a passing show for the fool. It is the glory, the might and the joy of religious life, a fact so fearfully neglected by all traditional creeds, which must be made clear to mankind in order to save it from the debasing tendencies of the prevalent fatalism. Humility is the power of faith, devotion and gratitude to God and man, in which consists the intrinsic power of honor. If a man does not want humility, let him frankly state this simple fact and then hide his face before every man who has not lost 72 RELIGION OF THE SOUL his conscience. If he is devoid of humility no one can trust him and no soul can be devoted and grate- ful to him, for he rejects the divine power and law of binding esteem, responsibility and reciprocity. Fortitude is essentially the will to holy power, the will to attain the living sonship of God, in order to participate in His holiest Divinity, in the majesty of God's holiest perfection and in His eternal sacri- fice and creational activity. Fortitude imparts pro- fundity, elevation and almost unlimited opportunities for greater life. It imparts superhuman intelligence and sentiments which love to adore the "Highest and Best," to see the fullness of Divine truth, and to embrace the sacrificial beauty of God. Thus beatitude is the most effective and palpable part of the souFs life, and the soul's life is a part of divine beatitude, which is born in Divine eternity for the sake of our immortal life with God. What forms constitute the reflex of Divine attributes pertaining to the Truth of God.^ The attributes pertaining to the Truth of God are Divine contemplation^ omniscience and omnipresence. Consequently, their superspiritual reflexes in con- science are the virtues of divine lights Tpisdom and simplicity. VIRTUES OF THE MIND 73 The Virtue of Divine Light What do we understand fcj the virtue of divine light? By this virtue we understand the will, in the ap- plication of all its mental faculties, to absolute truth. Absolute truth is a Divine attribute and might. We do not make truth, nor do we intrinsically pos- sess truth, but we have the power to search for truth and to participate in its holy might. Each human statement is either true or false, and we are fully aware of the consequences of all such statements. It is not due to our personal authority that a truthful statement is accepted, but to the objective superspiritual might of truth, presented by reasoning, according to conscience. Reasoning according to conscience is always seri- ous, because it is intrinsically connected with the superspiritual might and Voice of God. He who does not want thus to reason, is a trifler, incapable of serious reasoning. Reasoning is dependent from the soul's will to attain truth by means of its in- tellectual faculties. The profundity and elevation as well as the shal- lowness and sophistry of personal reasoning depend wholly on the attitude which the soul maintains 74 RELIGION OF THE SOUL toward humility, fortitude and beatitude or toward pride, weakness and misery. Where there is humility, the soul eagerly searches for the Absolute Object of truth. Where there is fortitude, the soul perseveres in its search until it finds truth. And where there is beatitude, the soul understands the exalting importance of worthiness, truth and love, and sees and loves conscience as the supreme guide of our life. In the contrary instance, if there is no humility, the soul in its pride can have no serious desire for absolute truth. It wants no divine light or conscience to rule its mentality. All it desires is the imposition of its will on others. And, because it does not apply its mind to divine light, which is the ruling might of conscience in relation to the mind, the soul must remain arbitrary and frequently tyrannical and ruth- less. If there is no fortitude, the dictate of conscience for truth finds no hold on the soul and, though this dictation appeals to the soul, man is not ready or willing to apply it to his judgments, and, there- fore, is incapable of great and sublime visions. Hence, if there is no beatitude in its heart, the soyl is incapable of trust, devotion and gratitude and advances skeptical and pessimistic theories and con- clusions, the logical consequence of confused visions. VIRTUES OF THE MIND . 75 If there is no divine light, spiritual sunshine is im- possible and a dark night, not infrequently bordering on despair, envelops the self-centered ego. Divine light is the heavenly brightness of spiritual riches, the delight of the virtuous and the hope and desire of the destitute. It shines from the heights of heaven into the profundity of our inwardness. It sheds its holy brightness on the performance of our duties, on serious judgments and all worthy senti- ments, in order to enhance the virtuous sense of responsibility to God and man. Beyond the light of God is ignorance and confusion in all our efforts, knowledge and aspirations. The supreme science is the science of the light of God, the absolute science of truth. But it takes a sincerely truth loving character inwardly to realize this tremendous fact. Divine light, like all gifts of God, is sacrificial and he who wishes to attain divine light must first attain sacrificial sentiments, sacrificial motives and a sacrificial heart. Truth, being in itself holy, cannot enter an unclean spiritual vessel like the average soul. Truth shines above and tiround the soul, but it will not make its habitation in the soul until man wipes out all selfish passions which, of his free will, he has selected as the idols of his love. Truth is the eternal voice of the might and 76 RELIGION OF THE SOUL ,..f splendor of holiness, and he who does not fully real- ize this holy fact knows very little of the might of truth and can have no' due adoration and esteem for truth. Hence he abuses truth, as he abuses all other gifts of God, for the mere vanity and lust of mun- dane life. Adoration of truth is the first conunandment for the mind, for no worthy application is possible with- out profound adoration and love of the light of God. As humility is the first superspiritual law for worthy action, thus divine light is the first super- spiritual law for worthy thinking. Without either no worthy cause of life can be understood. Thus it is obvious that the soul must adhere to divine light and cleave to conscience in order to understand its immortal dignity and its immortal rights and duties. The failure of this vision is the cause of all de- nominational and intellectual confusion and of the unfortunate and depraving conditions in which humanity lives. • The Virtue of Wisdom The virtue of wisdom consists in the knowledge of the application of our ivilU mind and heart to con- science. VIRTUES OF THE MIND 77 HoTv do tve appl^ our will to conscience? We apply our will to conscience by the constant resolution to be in company with conscience in order to have its continuous inspiration and support. There is nothing that inspires and supports our power of will to good deeds except the Voice of God. The Voice of God is the will of God in its application to each soul, in order to strengthen its faith in and devotion and gratitude to God. Wh}^ must we appl^ our will to conscience? We oiust apply our will to conscience because the Voice of God is the absolutely dominating, lead- ing and beatifying might of our life. It is the sole might which imparts to us dignity, truth and love, without which religious life can be neither attained nor known. How do We appl^ our mind to conscience? We apply our mind to conscience by constant at- tention of our thoughts to the Voice of God. In all our undertakings, we have an active, mental and sentimental problem before us. The solution of each problem must begin with conscience. Mental deliberation and scrutiny must proceed according to conscience and the aim of the undertaking must be 78 RELIGION OF THE SOUL in strict harmony with conscience in order to be worthy, true and good. If this rule of wisdom is not applied, errors creep in, in spite of original good intentions, and the result will be more or less unworthy, wrong and false. It will not bring the great result of honor and blessing which the implicit faith in the truth of God demands. Wh}^ must We apply our minds to conscience? We must apply our minds to conscience because the Voice of God is the profoundest and highest enlightenment of our life. Each mental problem refers to reason and each reasoning act refers to conscience as the highest tribunal of all judgments. Each theoretical and practical problem is debated only by the faculty of reason. Its acceptance, how- ever, depends on the self-conscious and self-sentient will according to the elevation or debasement of its individual conscience. Consequently, it is not reason as such, but the state of the individual conscience which evokes con- viction. Reason merely elucidates and prepares for conviction. Reason is only the mental activity of the .will, but self-conscious and self-sentient determina- tion is required in order to accept or reject a con- viction. VIRTUES OF THE MIND 79 HoTV do jve appl^ our hearts to conscience? We apply our hearts to conscience by loving the Voice of God as the highest gift of life. Conscience is the Voice of God speaking to our hearts. It tells us that holiness, truth and love constitute the Divine prototype of life, that we must worship, con- template and love them with all our sentiments, in order to follow this holiest prototype. Divine love is the fulfillment of worthy life, and he who does not attempt and strive for this fulfill- ment is bound to love unworthy things. Therefore, foolish is the heart which does not possess the love of the Voice of God. To answer the broad question, what is the best manner of life, is to counsel the devotion of all ef- forts to the education and elevation of the individual conscience, for only through this divine means can immortal honor, power and beatitude be attained. Why must we apply our hearts to conscience? We must apply our hearts to conscience, because it is the urger and guardian of holy sentiments; be- cause the love of conscience opens the gates to di- vine blessings, consisting in the power for glorious achievements, glorious visions and glorious beatitude. We must love conscience, because it protects our 80 RELIGION OF THE SOUL little souls from becoming smaller and inspires and leads us to greater spiritual manhood; because it protects the honor of the righteous and in the end always conquers the depravity of false and base suspicions and statements. Conscience is the most intimate temple of the heart, the source, the glory and the spirit of each worthy law, the leader to religious elevation, the sunshine of our visions, the tribunal of all judgments and the inspiration of all worthy deeds. This is why we must love conscience. Where the love of conscience is not the moving impulse of the heart, there is no wisdom and all is confusion, as we plainly see in our denominational, political, social and individual conditions. The ab- sence of the love of conscience is the curse of human- ity, and there will be no relief from these depressing and dangerous conditions until mankind turns its heart to the Voice of God. The Virtue of Simplicity The virtue of simplicity is the law of conscience which demands a truthful testimony in all our deeds, thoughts and sentiments. Its particular demand is sincerity of rvill, veracit}^ of mind and modesty of attitude. VIRTUES OF THE MIND 8^ How is the sincerity^ of Tvill expressed? Sincerity of will is expressed by the clear state- ment of the reasons why a certain deed is to be done or is not to be done. If the deed which is to be performed is good, the reason for its performance must be stated with full sincerity, in order to elicit the sentiment for the ac- complishment of the good deed. Only sincere state- ments cause faith in good deeds, enhance devotion to good deeds and evoke gratitude for good deeds. If the deed which is contemplated is evil, the reason for its baseness must also be stated with full sincerity in order to move the sentiment against its performance. Sincere statements prevent faithless- ness, self-devotion and ingratitude, which are the three cardinal sins of man. Wh^ is sincerity^ of ivill so necessary? The will, being the principal force of the soul, must, by the fact of its responsibility, give proof of its truthful state, in all determinations, for the sake of its own worthiness and the esteem of others. A sincere man, by virtue of the sense of his spiritual honor, strives to manifest his good will, be- cause his predominant interest lies in good and worthy deeds. His motives are always alert and sensitive to the 82 RELIGION OF THE SOUL elevation of the human character and the betterment of human conditions. He feels this lofty impulse, deriving from his love of conscience and follows it with unhesitating determination. The insincere man deceives himself in order to deceive others. He has not the will to give testi- mony to truth by his deeds. All that he thinks and does is so underhanded and tortuous that neither he nor others can be sure of his precise motive. If he cannot employ false statements he resorts to vague or misleading statements in order to justify the con- clusions which enable him to evade the performance of a good deed. If he is not utterly base, he avows good inten- tions but indefinitely postpones their fulfillment. If he is overtaken by some misfortune, he renews his erstwhile good intentions, only to forget them as soon as the danger has passed. The truly religious man is wholly sincere. He has no motives to hide or to twist. He wants his will to be truthful before the truth of God. If he perceives that his religious convictions and opinions, inculcated by the spirit of ages, are not strictly truthful, he discards them and searches earnestly for more light. If he apprehends that his political and social habits and tendencies are not strictly consistent with VIRTUES OF THE MIND 83 the Voice of God, he abandons them and willingly sacrifices his personal privileges for the honor of gaining a greater conscience. This is the truly sincere man, the true man of God, and if humanity had but a few scores of such sincere men, all the misery on our earth would vanish in a few generations. How is veracity^ of mind achieved? Veracity of mind is achieved through strict at- tention and cleaving to the Voice of God. Conscience is the sole means by virtue of which truthfulness is expressed, and there is no other means for compelling man to be truthful. He who adores and loves the Voice of God adores and loves truth, and he who does not adore and love truth is de- prived of the ground and aim of truthfulness, re- gardless of his learning or ignorance, and of his re- ligious or irreligious pretenses. Truthfulness is the personal acceptance and attestation of the truth of God, and those who do not clearly see and feel this fact cannot be sincerely truthful in the most vital affairs of life. Truth must be searched for and accepted whole- heartedly in order to cause truthfulness in the mind ; because we can never see any object clearly unless we have a great interest and love for the object. 84 RELIGION OF THE SOUL •_ The most vital condition of life is the understand-' ing of the immutable essence and purpose of life, without which neither our intrinsic rights nor duties can be clearly understood. The understanding of rights and duties is a mat- ter of conscience, which constitutes the sole basis of responsibility, inherently connected with all our deeds, thoughts and sentiments and the honor and value of life. Wh^ is truthfulness of mind so imperative? The imperativeness of truthfulness follows from the absolute importance of truth, and the consequent necessity for its attestation in all spiritual manifesta- tions. Truth is the divine light of life, and truthfulness the application of our minds to this holy light. Our self-consciousness must be true in its principle, that consciousness may be truthful in all its courses. Without the will and sentiment for this holy princi- ple, truthfulness of mind is impossible. Not having truth at the bottom of his heart, man has no intense desire to make strictly truthful state- ments. Yet, it is on the truthfulness of statements that we conduct all of life's efforts and we know the failures and discontent which always follow false statements. VIRTUES OF THE MIND 85 This fact applies not only to practical life, but also to all religious, philosophical and political theories, which rise and then vanish because of their lack of complete truthfulness. There will be no light of God in humanity until we learn to love His holiest light and resolve to live accordingly. It is unnecessary for us to reach out to past ages for this divine light. It is with us now more than at any former time in the history of humanity. Never before has the conscience of man been moved so deeply as it is to-day, and this fact is the most significant sign of our times. Conscience claims its supreme right over all other considerations. The "Higher Law" is imprinted with divine fire in our souls and, more than ever before, urges us to better thoughts and motives and more than ever smites each base and selfish purpose with its burning flame. How is modesty of attitude attained? Modesty of attitude, having its ground in humility, the principal attitude of the soul before God, can be attained only by the continuous practice of humility. Humility is the urger and wisdom the torch of light by which the modesty of attitude is attained. Self-respect consists in these two virtues mainly, and for this reason we never find a self-respecting 86 RELIGION OF THE SOUL man who is boastful, arrogant or stupid either in his words or manner. Modesty of attitude is the last expression of the soul's simplicity. It compels the soul to acknowledge the providential conditions in which it is placed, with the sole aim and purpose of virtuous progress. No providential condition excludes virtuous ad- vancement. Those with ample possessions can as- sist the destitute, the learned can help the ignorant and the virtuous man always serves the less virtuous or unvirtuous. True assistance is given in a modest manner, be- cause of the virtuous man's consciousness of our ab- solute dependence from God, and of the relative in- terdependence in our contact with others. If this religious truth and sentiment is not vivid in our conscience, the pride of man will strive after ruthless acquisitions and preferments, with their in- herent tendency to human slavery, instead of human brotherhood. The immodesty of the human mind and heart causes boastfulness, vanity and sensual indulgence. Furthermore, it causes the revolt of the common conscience of the masses against those who, by their preferred station, are conscience-bound to give proof of spiritual superiority. The sense of honor is attained not by insipid VIRTUES OF THE MIND 87 vanities, but by means of sacrificial deeds and lofty sentiments, and these are intrinsically modest. Vir- tuous men do not raise their heads above others nor do they bow before others. Thfey look steadfastly for the love of God and humanity, in order to render the greatest possible service. This is the temper of each soul with a lofty conscience and true religious attitude. / IVh}^ is modesty of attitude so necessary? The necessity for modesty of attitude follows from the fact that we are the spiritual offspring of God. Our souls are not made by us or by any other creature, nor are our bodies and the external condi- tions of life. Moreover, ' the soul and body cannot be made by a blind natural force, as some suggest, because what does not possess will, intellect and sentiment cannot c^use a planful and purposeful spiritual form, as the soul is, nor a planful and purposeful physical body which the soul possesses. Only ignorance of the first laws of logic, or a perverted sentiment is capable of suggesting such a patent impossibility. All the failures to explain the mystery of life from the so-called scientific viewpoint are the direct consequence of immodesty of attitude toward God and His great and holy plan of creation. 88 RELIGION OF THE SOUL However, boastfulness, with its inherent dis- regard, and ruthlessness, are by no means the ex- clusive manifestations of the so-called infidels. Human history has many black pages, filled with fiendish cruelty and persecution, perpetrated by the leaders among nearly all of the most influential creeds and the "faithful followers of holy scrip- tures." Only since conscience asserted its divine right among the masses, has this ungodly cruelty come to an end, though its brutal spirit is not yet wholly ex- terminated. The liberal movement in many creeds endeavors to supply what it cannot find in its "holy scriptures'* and appeals to profounder religion and inner life in order to save mankind from the threatening disaster. So long, however, as this good intention of religious "liberalism" does not look into the eternal gospel of conscience and fails to give it at least a small part of the attention which it has hitherto devoted to the various interpretations of ancient writers, these ef- forts will be fruitless. Liberalism must learn to plead with the inveterate sentiments of the unprogressive masses and strive to show humanity a greater and more beautiful world of God than that which the past has left us. The blind and brutal fanatical spirit with its traditional prejudices and false piet- VIRTUES OF THE MIND 89 ism must be removed and new *'men of God** must come forward to save our world from retrogression to barbarism. The opportunist, surrounded with wordly means, may smile at this admonition, but so did many "ex- alted" men of the recent past. They smile no more. The reign of sincerity, truthfulness and modesty with its sweet and innocent spirit of religion will not be introduced and the blessing of God brought to us until the spirit of pride, falsehood, vanity and lust, with its boisterous pretenses, is subdued. There is no law to curb this wicked spirit save the law of simplicity in conscience. Simplicity is the great harmonizer of life. It ex- presses not only the true capacity of every man but also the true willingness of each capacity for worthy service. The simple soul is always the best servant of the human race, just as the soul filled with duplicity is always the destroyer of the little happi- ness which humanity possesses. He who wants to be earnestly religious must cling to heavenly simplicity, and soon he will find him- self nearer to God and will clearly understand his station of sacrificial service. Simplicity is the true refinement of the soul. Every noble man loves a sincere and truthful soul, for it can always be implicitly trusted, and its modesty is 90 RELIGION OF THE SOUL so attractive that it evokes admiration and gratitude without the slightest effort. Even the wicked have trust in such a soul, if for no other reason, because the sense of fear is absent. Thus it becomes evident how necessary this virtue is in order to prove the religious character of man. It is the general absence of this proof which gives the deriders of the faith in God the opportunity to attack the very veracity of religion. What Forms Constitute thei Reflex of Divine Attributes Pertaining to THE Love of God? The attributes pertaining to the Love of God are Divine sacrifice, justice and goodness. Consequently, their superspiritual reflexes in conscience are the virtues of love, righteousness and goodness. The Virtue of Love The motive of pure love is sacrifice, the imitation and affirmation of love Divine. The virtue of love lives on the adoration of the most adorable, on the love of truth and truthfulness, and on the intense desire to realize the glory and truth of life in sacrificial motives, charitable senti- ments and in imiversal s^mpath^ and chastity. VIRTUES OF THE HEART 91 Any other love is unclean, selfish or criminal and leads to disillusion, bitterness and self-imposed suf- fering, the unavoidable result of ungodly life. //on? are sacrificial motives attained? Sacrificial motives are attained by the continuous consciousness that the soul is of Divine issue, for the sake of the participation in Divine life. The ever- present consciousness that the will and mind are created for worthiness and truth, and the profound sentiency that the heart is created for pure love con- stitute the essential and most direct path for attain- ing sacrificial motives in our deeds. This consciousness and sentiment is the inward « proof that we must have faith in and devotion and gratitude to God, and lie who does not heed and cherish this great purpose of life has little or no true interest in religion. Wh}^ must sacrificial motives be attained? Sacrificial motives must be attained, because they are the sole proof of religious life and inward dig- nity. Faith in God is the most sacred trust of holy mutuality, the focus of divine childship, in which the Fatherhood of God is supremely adored and loved. Faith in God means faith in His holiness, and the 92 RELIGION OF THE SOUL revealing might of holiness is sacrifice, on which each creature lives. Sacrifice is the living motive and the holy rhythm of life and each act which does not comply with this divine order is worthless and dangerous. Devotion to God is the true power of life. He whose life is not devoted to the holiest cause of all « life is not a true child of God. Devotion, in the sacrificial sense, is the inspirer of worthy action, the course of true heroism and the path of immortal glory. Each soul lives on more or less pronounced human devotion, but it is the devo- tion to sacrifice which imparts sublimity to life and which decrees its future station. Everybody knows the perverted and unvirtuous devotions to vanity, greed and sensuality and every serious man has the righteous feeling that misery must follow such a course. Whoever has squandered his spiritual forces on ruthless self-indulgence cannot expect divine blessing and, in his conscience, he has no such expectation. He prefers to believe in the mortality of his soul, in order to destroy the last vestige of his immortal responsibility. Gratitude is the heavenly fruition and fragrance of sacrifice. It is both the appreciation and the joy of sacrifice. Only profound souls are capable of pro- VIRTUES OF THE HEART 93 found sacrifice; souls of great faith and devotion to the holy cause of sacrificial life. All sins and transgressions are the direct con- sequences of the disregard and lack of the sacrificial spirit that derives from faith, devotion and gratitude to God. Hon? are charitable sentiments attained? Charitable sentiments are attained through con- tinuous recourse of our thoughts and sentiments to the fact that we are the children of God and, there- fore, are bound by the holy bond of superspiritual and spiritual mutuality. That we are fallen souls makes the practice of charity all the more necessary, because we must have charity for the sake of our virtuous growth and the great life that is waiting for us. All our aims and efforts must be performed in the spirit of charity, in order that we may obtain divine blessing. Nothing else thrives before the Face of God, because charity is the course of sacrifice. IVh}^ are charitable sentiments so necessar}^? Because they are the living imitation of the most charitable operation of God, relatively to all souls. Imitation of the best is affirmation of the best; the affirmation of the sacrificial spirit, which is 94 RELIGION OF THE SOUL charity. Thus charity must be the most effectual part of our life. A soul devoid of the sentiment of charity is full of ruthlessness, heartlessness and the potentiality for all possible crimes. We must give the best that is in us to God, to all human and sub-human creatures and never cease giving, for such is the life of God. Wh}^ must rve have universal s^mpath^? Because universal sympathy is a holy law of Hfe. It is the sentimental necessity which brings heavenly harmony and joy into our life. Nothing is well understood unless one is in full sympathy with the object of his understanding. No principle of life can be logically conceived, no process consistently surveyed and no effect of life fully appreciated unless divine sympathy is the impulse of understanding. No cause, no man and no creature can be rightly estimated unless the divine warmth of sympathy leads us to the appreciation of each being and of each thing. The lack of this virtuous sympathy causes pride, conceit, contempt and hate, with their disastrous consequences. Let us put a final question. What kind of man is he who has no sympathy with the highest values of spiritual life? Has he religion in his heart? Never! VIRTUES OF THE HEART 95 Wh}) is chastity so indispensable to religious life? Religious life consists in following the holy Will of God for the sake of our sanctification, that we may attain heaven with its eternal glory, power, light and love; that we may live in the nearness to God and partake in His Divinity. The body is the providential instrument of the soul for the purpose of holy aims. There is no other worthy reason for its existence. Consequently, the body cannot be used for arbitrary ends of sensual delight. Chastity binds with equal force each single or married person. In either state there is no escape from its commandment. Sensual delight has only one worthy reason and this reason is procreation. Beyond this exclusive aim, indulgence in sensual delight is a sinful act, unworthy of sacramental matrimony or of any pro- foundly religious soul. . There is no more insisting inclination in the aver- age man than the craving after the flesh, and every dietetic and social precaution ought to be applied in order to avoid the sensual lure. There is nothing more disturbing and weakening to the soul's energy, the mind and the heart, and nothing more enervating to the body than the in- 96 RELIGION OF THE SOUL dulgence in sensuality. The mediocrity and weakness of the human character, its low mental and senti- mental capacity, and the lack of the strict sense of righteousness, are consequences mainly of sensual life. The cause of this debasement lies in the lack of love for conscience and the consequent lack of de- light in great spiritual visions and sentiments. The soul must have delight in its life. If it has no delight in holy glory, truth and love, it will reach out for the evanescent delights of nature at the cost of its debasement and suffering. The Virtue of Righteousness Righteousness is the reflex of Divine justice in conscience. Its might consists in the guardianship of holy values and the eternal support and rule of holy order. All right actions, right thinking, and right senti- ments follow the law of righteousness, which applies with equal force to all theoretical and practical questions. There is nothing in our spiritual life in which righteousness is not concerned. The slightest omis- sion or neglect of its commanding power is im- mediately followed by disturbing consequences. VIRTUES OF THE HEART 97 Righteousness, in all social and personal relations, is more exacting than any other virtue, because it is the most permeating and practical virtue. The value of each deed, thought and sentiment can always be seen in the mirror of righteousness. Hon) can righteousness be attained? There is only one way to attain righteousness and that is through constant association with conscience and the strict heeding of its dictates. No written law is inwardly compelling unless the motive to fol- low that law is sustained by the active impulse and sentiment for righteousness. The righteous man constantly nurtures the disposi- tion of generous mutuality in his heart. He never forgets a kind act and anxiously awaits the oppor- tunity to serve those who have served him righteously. Thus the profounder the virtue of gratitude, the readier and more effective is the spirit of righteous- ness. Wh}) is righteousness so indispensable to our spiritual honor and progress? Because it is the way of the sacrificial spirit and the most tangible commandment of justification, fair- mindedness and honesty. Because it is the sole protector against unholy 98 RELIGION OF THE SOUL aggression and the infallible guide to worthiness, spiritual elevation, true happiness and joy. Because it is the law and order of true mutuality and the holy executor of the Will of God. Righteousness constitutes the most visible and ef- fective test of true religion in the soul. Everything that is not strictly righteous is irreligious, regardless of pietistic presumption. God does not hear the prayers of unrighteous souls, because they pray unrighteously. Conse- quently, no man of conscience gives assistance to an unrighteous cause. Righteousness is the indelible mark of the true religious spirit and everything beyond it is hypocrisy, simulation and common deceit. There are two leading indictments against the human character, untruthfulness and unrighteousness, the former manifesting the lack of the right mind and the latter the lack of the right heart in man. Lies and deceit form a large part of our life and yet we are astonished at the helplessness, ignorance and perplexity of our leaders and the confusion of the masses. Nothing can be expected without righteousness. If the upper stratum of human society will not make a greater effort for a more righteous social order, then sooner or later the distrusting and suffering VIRTUES OF THE HEART 99 masses will tear down this order through hate and contempt. The masses need and want leadership, but they want at least as much righteousness in this leader- ship as is necessary to insure greater spiritual and material mutuality, the inborn right of each living being. Unrighteousness is the most corrupting and de- structive element in the soul. It is devoid of all feel- ing of holiness, of truth and love, and thrives on the violation of faith, honor, innocence and righteous means in order to attain dishonorable vainglory and base material gain. The lack of righteousness causes false ideals and fanaticism with their ruthless and brutal con- sequences. If this Divine law is not heeded with that unwavering firmness which is the inherent char- acter of this law, all sinful and criminal aims are undertaken under its cover and pursued in the name of God. Hence the general lack of profound esteem and sentiment for the establishment of the righteous spirit of laws. Employment of unrighteous means in order to at- tain righteous aims is essentially unrighteous. Thou shall he righteous is the clear Voice of God, and this means under all conditions and circumstances. The necessity for this virtue in the will, intellect 1 00 RELIGION OF THE SOUL and sentiment is so great that it ought to be con- stantly held before our eyes and inculcated in our hearts. Humanity is one of the innumerable families in our existential sphere. If the righteous bond of re- ligion is not strictly applied in our human relations, we forfeit the holiest bond with God and through godless obduracy, ignorance and ruthlessness become the destroyers of that most intimate sense of human brotherhood by virtue of which alone true progress is possible. Righteous life is worthy of all human sacrifices, for it constitutes the heart's inward nobility, the power and joy of immortal friendship, the proof of honor, clear judgment, true affection, the spirit of universal order and the unfailing path to immortal glory, power, wisdom and beatitude. The Virtue of Goodness Goodness is the last, the most effective and the most expressive virtue. Its power consists in crown- ing all preceding virtues with heavenly attraction. Since attraction is a very vital sentimental part of our life, goodness furnishes that heavenly sweet- ness and beauty for which all souls are so hungry. It is the gentlest of all virtues, because, in itself, being the efflorescence of all virtues, it attracts and VIRTUES OF THE HEART 101^ overwhelms more by its inherent beauty than by the intensity of power which all other virtues demand. Its intrinsic forms are benevolence and magna- nimity^, earnestness and enthusiasm, and spiritual grace and beauty. In all these forms we see the greatness of re- ligious beauty and, at the same time, where this virtuous beauty is not distinctly visible, we observe the lack of the true religious spirit. Goodness is the living sympathy with the life of God, and with all other lives according to the life of God. It is the gentlest, most benevolent and magnanimous conqueror of fallen souls. Its earnest- ness permeates everyone with respect, without the use of effort. Its enthusiasm strikes the latent senti- ments in the deepest recesses of the heart and reveals the fact that in each soul is some part. >cf. the spiritual grace and beauty which everybody is* so eager to see and to sense. ^^ ^ 4 <^ It HoTv is the virtue of goodness attained? This virtue is attained through the cultivation and application of sacrificial sentiments. Sacrifice, being the effectual form of holy life, insists on the mani- festation of its holy might for the sake of mutual elevation and the joy of its purity. The benevolent will must be continually exercised. 102 RELIGION OF THE S OUL in order to attain sacrificial power and the con- sequent rise to a holier life in the hereafter. Good deeds must be highly esteemed and pro- foundly loved, for good deeds are the stepping stones of our spiritual rise to the grandeur of heavenly life. Therefore, nothing in life is either esteemed or loved that has no clear mark of this expressive virtue. We need goodness not only in order to enjoy the respect of others, but also for our own self-respect — the consciousness and feeling of our personal worthi- ness. The most miserable soul is the one that is incap- able of good deeds and it always feels and manifests this misery in its inveterate suspicions, discontent and grumbling. The heavenly sun of goodness does not shine jn :such a heart. * The heart's dispositions and impulses must be carefully guarded by the ever-conscious will to con- science, that no selfish and impure motive may mis- lead us to our inward dishonor and resulting re- morse, with the inevitable necessity of reparation and rehabilitation. The best deed is the one which is well done from the start Its effect is always blessing and satisfy- ing, regardless of whether or not it is known by others. VIRTUES OF THE HEART 103 The first witness of our deeds is God and each man with conscience and self-respect is duty-bound not to let this fact escape his memory. Only the wicked soul does not want this Eternal Witness. All deeds which do not possess the power of goodness are, to say the least, a waste of time. Time is given for glorious deeds and the attainment of high mentality and profound sentiments. Waste of time takes vengeance on the whole value and destiny of our life. Instead of becoming powerful spiritual beings, full of vibrant good will, clear and lofty thoughts, and replete with the noblest enthusiasm and joy of virtuous life, we grow into spiritual cripples, deprived of great will power, with beclouded minds and contracted hearts, into which nothing lofty and great can enter. From three- fourths to ninety-nine hundreths of our human life is a waste, and severely speaking, a criminal waste. In view of this fact how can we expect greater spiritual progress, for which the whole humanity is crying? The privileged classes amuse themselves with petty ambitions, ostentatious vanity and concealed sensuality. And the lower classes, seeing this glaring spectacle of stupidity and heartlessness, organize themselves not only for self-defense, but also for common revenge. 1 04 RELIGION OF THE SOUL In the middle stand the small number of good preachers and teachers, pleading ^^dth the one and the other side for greater mutuality. Weak, through the lack of clear understanding of the soul and con- science, and entangled by a mass of contrary inter- pretations and antiquated traditions, their appeal fails to strike the conscience and intrinsic honor of man. They do not use the Voice of God as the supreme oracle of religion, and, consequently, cannot prove the inward bond of the soul with God. They do not teach virtues as the fundamental essence of religion, but offer vague promises of vicarious salvation through blind faith. They do not speak of the eternal grandeur and beauty of Divine perfections and thus fail to present the real inward attraction of a religious life. The clear motive and plan of Divine creation is not explained, and, consequently, no man really knows what he is and for what he exists; he has no clear vision of the great purpose of his life. And the future Ufe is described as if for unthinking children who expect nothing but mere rest and com- mon joys. To most spiritual teachers the natural world is rather a threatening spectre than the truthful illustra- tion of our existential conditions. The explanation VIRTUES OF THE HEART 105 of nature has been left to so-called unbelievers and "atheists," as if nature were created by some evil spirit In view of these pertinent and poignant facts, how is it possible to expect religious progress in human- ity? The sustaining of religious enthusiasm . needs a constantly increasing spiritual fuel. Enthusiasm will not thrive on what has already been absorbed in the course of past ages. All the good that traditions have done is merely the preparation in our souls of a larger heart for sublimer religious life. To achieve this end we must look more frequently into conscience and then into our hearts, in order to see the exact growth of our personal goodness. For the first and last question to each soul on the passage from one life to another, is, what good hast thou done during thy past course of life? W^/ip is the virtue of goodness so essential to our life? Because it is the final expression of true humility and the incontestable characteristic of the religious soul. Because it is the virtuous manifestation of inward honor, truth and love, the one worthy aim of our life and the ineffaceable sign of our divine childship. !06 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Because it nurtures the fortitude of our wills and leads us to the triumph over all evil. Because its origin is heavenly life and thus it is the carrier and distributor of the beautifying purity of life. Everything yields before its might and it covers every wickedness with shame. Because goodness is the incontestable interpreta- tion of all truth and the victorious weapon of holiness against falsehood. Because all its deeds lead to and manifest wis- dom. Hence no act is wise unless goodness is the aim of the act. Because sincerity of will, truthfulness of mind and modesty of heart are the essential conditions through which true goodness is manifested. Good- ness always has these divine characteristics in its expressions. Goodness consists of greater or less sacrifices and frees the soul from egocentric tendencies and com- mon selfishness. It obtains its virtuous power from sacrifice, the true sense and proof of worthy life. For this reason everything that is not truly good is under the ban of condemnation. The executive might of righteousness is per- meated with and surrounded by goodness. Thus nothing is good that is not righteously executed. The guardianship of righteousness is the best protector of THE RELIGIOUS SOUL 107 such worthy life as we possess and the disregard of this holy protection causes the whole misery of man- kind. Finally, goodness is so essential, because it is the heart of benevolence, that knows no ill will or wish. It is the builder of magnanimity, that sees and feels everything in the grandeur of the Divine plan of life, and the bestower of true, imperishable cheer- fulness and beauty of the soul. The Inward Likeness of the Religious Soul The inwardly religious soul is determined to be conscious and sentient of the might of God and of. His holy Voice, which speaks in conscience. In his inwardness he constantly protests to God his humble allegiance through faith in, devotion to and gratitude for the heavenly bond of religion, which imparts to him the most glorious title of divine childship. He is consummately conscious that this holy bond and title is the immutable ground of his worthiness and personal honor, for the full attainment of which he works with all his forces. In this work consists his participation in, his co- operation with and his affirmation of the divine life within himself, for this life constitutes the eternal focus of his immortal greatness and beatitude. 1 08 RELIGION OF THE SOUL From the living faith in God and devotion and gratitude to God, the manifest trinity of humility, flows the virtue of fortitude, transforming debasing weakness into glorious power, darkness into clear light and low and morbid sentiments into exaltation and joy. The joy of heavenly beatitude becomes the per- manent effect in him and the spirit of its power, wis- dom and goodness imparts itself to those who are fortunate enough to be near him. With this inward attitude of will, he applies all his mental faculties to the cognition of God and of His holiest attributes, in order to understand and delight in the grandeurs of the prototypical plan of God, and in order to guide his visions according to this divine plan, without the understanding of which no law and no act or fact of life can be clearly understood. The purpose and importance of life must be seen in the absolute plan of life. From this eternal ground of vision emanates wis- dom, the power of estimating all things according to the holy plan of God. The slightest oversight of this insistent truth causes endless confusion, both in theoretical and practical spheres. Thus to be wise means to be determined to act, to see and to love everything according to the eternal plan of God. All other human wisdoms are only THE RELIGIOUS SOUL 109 fragmentary and relative expressions of true wis- dom, which are frequently abused for ruthless and selfish aims. Of this unfortunate fact the inwardly religious soul is well aware and accepts nothing that manifests the slightest inconsistence with the eternal plan of God. Necessary evils exist only for the evil minded, but not for the wise and righteous. He neither accepts nor defends them. He combats them with all the power of his conscience. Only through this course of life is he able to at- tain the great virtue of simplicity, which consists in the sincerity of will, truthfulness of mind and modesty of attitude. This trinity of mental dispositions is the irrefut- able proof of the worthiness of his character and intellect. Everyone with any degree of conscience always looks for and depends on the sincerity, truth- fulness and modesty of him with whom he comes in contact. And nothing fills a conscience loving soul with more abomination than insincerity, falsehood and boastfulness. The uprightness and rectitude of the human character can be easily recognized by this unfailing test of truth. The inwardly religious man never allows a selfish motive to dominate his heart. By all means of edu- cation and experience he never ceases in his efforts to attain a greater content of sacrificial sentiments. 1 10 RELIGION OF THE SOUL They grow with him, that he may grow on them to spiritual greatness. Sacrifice must be known as the eternal effluence of Divine life and it must be loved in order to be known. Conscience, religion, honor, wisdom, righteousness and goodness are rooted in the ground of sacrifice. The greatness and merit of the individual life is invariably judged by the volume of its sacrificial achievements, and the littleness and unworthiness of the individual life is always measured by the ab- sence of these same sacrifices. Justice stands on the eternal ground of sacrifice and, in itself, is the holy guardian of sacrificial values. With all his heart the inwardly religious man embraces this holy guardianship, whereby the worth- iness of his religious character is maintained. Under this guardianship he progresses, irrespective of all hindrances, with unflinching courage, to the gates of eternal life. Sacrifice becomes the vision, the impulse and sphere of his life. Then all he does, thinks and feels is pure, good and beautiful. All virtues attained through inward humility attain the manifest form of the heavenly power of goodness. Benevolence, with its might to attract, magna- nimity with its might to conquer, earnestness with its THE RELIGIOUS SOUL 111 power of conviction, enthusiasm with its power of overwhelming, and spiritual grace and beauty, the incentives of pure and lasting joy, all of these are given by God to the truly religious soul, that the like- ness of God in the soul be fulfilled. These virtuous forms are the divine paths over which humanity is slowly climbing to greater in- ward heights and this labor constitutes the immortal history of all souls. THE CULT OF GOD The object and essence of worship lies in the holi- est attributes of God, which, in themselves, are the absolutely adorable mights. Conscience, being the holy reflex of Divine at- tributes, and, in itself, the superspiritual subsistence of the soul, clearly reveals the inherent plan of the worship of God. The supremely adorable object is the Holiness, Truth and Love of God. Holiness, the determining might of God, reveals His majestic oneness, omnipotent perfection and superspiritual eternity as His determining attributes. Consequently, these attributes are the first form of worship. Truth, the visual might of God, reveals His crea- tive contemplation, omniscient predestination and omnipresent providence as His visual attributes. Hence, these attributes are the second form of Di- vine worship. Love, the sentimental might of God, reveals sacri- ficial guidance, charitable justice and beatifying and saving goodness as His sentimental attributes. Ac- 112 THE CULT OF GOD HS cordingly, these attributes constitute the third form of Divine worship. These forms of worship are neither arbitrary nor artificial. They are strictly logical, as is evidenced by their intrinsic order and conformity with the soul's will, mind and heart, all of which possess adoring forces. All other forms of religious worship are imperfect attempts to follow this holy plan. Because they are not distinctly grounded on the eternal forms of Di- vine Holiness, Truth and Love, they obscure the Face of God with anthropomorphic estheticism and make religious cults more human than divine. Traditions have succeeded one another, each with a greater or less content of the religious spirit, but if humanity is to progress onward, all human tradi- tions, venerable as they are, must be superseded by the eternal tradition of the living Voice of God in the soul. The establishing of the great cult of God, which all serious souls expect and demand, cannot come too soon. On its coming depends the great progress of humanity. Cults of wordly riches, vanity and sensuality have always made debasing inroads on the weak charac- ter of man, but never have they been more widely spread, conspicuous and infectious than in recent 1 14 RELIGION OF THE SOUL times. So long as these base and destructive cults continue to exist, the necessity for the divine cult is all the more evident. Moreover, this particular necessity is supported by the logical necessity that our highest aspirations and efforts must have a collective form in order to prove and manifest the inward conviction of our divine childship and the true religious brotherhood. No race is excluded from and no social and in- tellectual distinction is made in this cult. The ad- vantages are equal to all. The outer forms of the public cult consist in praise, offering, invocation, petition and thanksgiv- ing, expressed in solemn and simple art. Religious life is the supreme art of the soul and collective expressions ought to be sublime, impres- sive and elevating. The greatest inmiediate need of man is more religious profundity and elevation, in order to be moved to the active realization of his final destiny, consisting in the participation in Di- vine glory, might and beatitude. SACRAMENTAL CONFESSION OF THE CHURCH OF GOD I believe in the Holiness, Truth and Love of God, which constitute His Divine Superpersonality. I believe that the determining might of the Holi- ness of God is absolute, perfect and eternal, and, therefore, constitutes the supreme majesty, almighti- ness and superspirituality of God. I believe that the visual might of the Truth of God is the contemplating, omniscient and omni- present light of His Holiness, and, therefore, con- stitutes the holiest plan of His eternal creation, pre- destination and providence. I believe that the sentimental might of the Love of God is the eternal sacrifice, charity and goodness, and, therefore, constitutes the holiest revelation of His eternal guidance, justice and salvation. I believe that conscience is the eternal and formal reflex of Divine attributes, the living Voice of God and the immutable ground and plan of the soul. I believe that conscience is the superspiritual form through which God reveals His holiest will, the eternal law and formal commandment of virtuous life. I believe that the soul's forces of will, intellect 115 1 1 6 RELIGION OF THE SOUL and sentiment are created for the sole purpose of fol- lowing* of knowing and of loving God as our eternal Creator, Lord and Father. Therefore, I believe in our affinity and allegiance to God and in the imitation of God, in order that we may participate in, cooperate with and affirm the eternal grandeur of His holiest Life, for the sake of His Holiness and our sanctification, for the sake of His Truth and our truthfulness, and for the sake of His eternal Love, the source, sublimity and true joy of our life. And I believe in the virtue of humility, consist- ing in faith, devotion and gratitude to God, and in the virtues of fortitude, beatitude, divine light, wisdom, simplicity, pure love, righteousness and goodness, as the sole path of sanctification and ascent to the heavenly life of glory, light and beati- tude. So help me God! Amen. THE DECALOG OF RELIGIOUS LIFE Thou shall love God, thy eternal Lord and Father, with all the forces of thy soul, that thou mayest follow His holy Will, the law of all laws. Thou shalt praise the Holiness, Truth and Love of God in profound humility, through faith, devotion and gratitude, that thou mayest be worthy of the holy gift of immortal life. Thou shalt grow in fortitude and steadfastness, that thy duties to God and man be the greatest things in life, and that thou mayest be ready for still greater duties. Thou shalt live in purity, trust and peace, in labor and in prayer, that thou mayest be assured of salva- tion and the eternal blessing of God. Thou shalt seek for the truth of God, that thou mayest see His eternal light which leads thee to thy holy destiny. Thou shalt be guided by rvisdom in all thy deeds, in all thy thoughts and in all thy affections, that thou mayest choose the worthiest and be shielded against sin, error and the temptations of evil. Thou shalt be truthful in thy whole mind, that 117 1 1 8 RELIGION OF THE SOUL thy conscience be not defiled by falsehood and that truth bear witness of thy integrity. Thou shalt follow the sacrificial spirit of Divine Love, that thy heart be pure before God, with love toward mankind and benevolence toward lower creatures. Thou shalt be ruled by justice to God and to each living being, that thou mayest be justified by heaven and by earth and that righteousness be thy eternal crown of honor. Thou shalt fill with goodness all thy motives, all thy thoughts and all thy longings, that nothing un- worthy enter thy heart and that the kingdom of God be thy eternal reward. PASSIONS OF THE SOUL All men know passions in their effects, but few know the real source of passions. What is the essential meaning of * passion in a religious sense? Passions are the sufferings of the soul, caused by lack of godliness and, consequently, they are the actual opposition to virtues and the real evil of life. Being the exact contradiction of virtues, passions follow the same logical order, although in the nega- tive sense. Thus they are the source of everything unholy, untruthful, and selfish and of all human wretchedness. Following the order of virtues, there are passions %)f the Tvill, of the mind and of the heart. PASSIONS OF THE WILL The chief passions of the will are pride, religious mdolence and religious misery. Pride What constitutes the pride of the soul? Pride consists in the attitude of more or less active independence from God and His holy Voice. It 119 120 RELIGION OF THE SOUL is the first act of faithlessness to God, with the con- sequence of faithlessness to man and other creatures. Where the spiritual power of unconditional faith in God is not the most vital function of our life, the assurance of faith in relative beings is destroyed at the very inception of its power. Faith constitutes the greatest superspiritual power of the soul and the clear proof of its honorable tendency. Therefore, lack of faith leads to low- mindedness and confusion, and the denial of faith to iniquity and crime. Faithlessness displaces the power of esteem, which each soul ought to possess in its in- wardness, and fills it with its opposite, the destructive power of contempt. The humble man has a living faith in God. The proud man has a living faith in himself. He measures everything, not according to conscience, but accord- ing to his haughty will, with its narrow visions and heartlessness. His motive power is not that of respect but of contempt, and **under me" is his temper. Whether his station be high or low, essentially he is the real anarchist among men. The history of humanity is filled with such characters, and every conceivable condition, religious, political and social, is the field of their ungodly activity. The number of these men exceeds by far the humble and vir- tuous souls, hence the fact that sin rules our world. PASSIONS OF THE WILL 1 2 1 Devotion is the profound and soul-inspiring power of the humble, and vanity the shallow and soul-be- sotting weakness of the proud. The proud man does not believe in building an altar for the worship of God in his inwardness, but he believes in building fleeting altars of self-admira- tion and self-indulgence. He does not search for the spiritual incense of virtuous inspiration, but for the pomp and show of luxury, with which he may adorn himself. He has no sense and no regard for great virtuous manifestations, for there is nothing virtuous in him that is worthy of such manifestation. And, since the tendency to the manifestation of the soul's spir- itual content is inborn, he displays the achievements of his vanity, with greater or less dissimulation. The vain man is sometimes ashamed of his ma- terial wealth, yet he does not know how to use it to the advantage of immortal honor. By continuous habit, his motives, mind and heart are so strongly attached to self-devotion, that with the loss of this infatuation his own life seems lost. He* loves ob- sequiousness and flattery so much that he cannot dispense with them for the sake of divine devotion, in which he has no faith. Esteem is a demand of conscience, but his conscience is too small to afford any scope for rejoicing in virtuous honor. 122 RELIGION OF THE SOUL In addition to this common vanity, are the subtle vanities of political, financial and social leadership, enhanced by material means. None of them, as we know, depends on virtuous principles of life. There are also vanities in the intellectual and artistic fields which strive more for self-magnification and glorification or mere material gain than for higher aims. It is true that this form of vanity is rarer and less conspicuous than the gross vanity dis- played by material power. The sensibility of intel- lectual and artistic dignity is a restraint against pas- sions. It is for this reason that literature and art have given the absolute majority of honorable characters. Moreover, and contradictory as it seems, many religious creeds are as vain and proud as the rest of our world. "We are the chosen people!" — "Our creed is the only true creed!" — **Our sacraments are indispensable to attain heaven!" — ^And now more timidly "All the rest of men are damned!" are the ungodly expressions of those who pretend to teach the word of God. Of all the vanities, this vanity is the most dangerous, because it perverts re- ligious truth at its very roots and causes more so- called atheists than all natural sciences put together. Gratitude is the immortal effluence of the self- sentiency of divine childship, while ingratitude is the logical effect of self-centered and self-devoted pride. PASSIONS OF THE WILL 123 For what should the godless soul be grateful? He does not know whence he came, or why he ex- ists, and cares little for such knowledge. His belief in personal immortality is uncertain and, hence, im- mortal responsibility is still less certain, and of little or no interest to him. Intrinsically fatalistic in his mentality and sentiments, he believes more in ac- cidents or mere facts than in laws. And, if he be- lieves in laws, it is more for the sake of his external safety than because of gratitude. In his obscured mentality he does not discriminate between superspiritual, spiritual and natural laws, each of which constitutes such a distinct and vital part of our life. Everything is "nature" and "nat- ural*' to him, a sort of a vague fatalistic generation. Moreover, to him all sublime things in life are not realities but mere ideals, at which, without individual effort or responsibility, our world may eventually arrive. This characterization does not pertain merely to educated naturalistic radicals but to humanity at large. The average man has more intense faith in and devotion to nature, than faith in and devotion to God. It is so much easier to satisfy the undiscrim- inating, cloudy and irresponsible human spirit with natural effects, even at the loss of virtuous values. In the proud soul there is no substantial ground 124 RELIGION OF THE SOUL for profound and life-permeating responsibility and consequent gratitude. Yet he may casually feel gratitude to the one who serves his personal ambi- tions, only to dismiss and forget him when another renders greater service to his selfish plans. Human gratitude oscillates according to the in- tensity of personal satisfaction. Few are grateful for material assistance and still fewer for spiritual help, which is the greatest help in our life. Workers in behalf of profit are more readily followed than workers in behalf of the spirit, who may be dis- tantly respected but rarely loved. The power of gratitude, which, in the will, is the main motive power of sacrifice, is absent. The virtuous man delights in gratitude, but to the proud it is a burden and a mortification. He fears to lower his captious honor by honoring a truly honorable deed. Surely, where gratitude does not flow with full power from the holy source of divine faith and devotion, its action cannot be otherwise than brief, timid and ineffective, in any bond of friendship and human sympathy. Nothing is more sympathetic than a living grati- tude, and nothing more unsympathetic than ingrati- tude. The virtuous soul works for the sake of gratitude, as an indispensable power of his dignity. PASSIONS OF THE WILL 125 The unvirtuous shuns this holy work with the super- cilious excuse that all men are ungrateful. Religious Indolence Fortitude is the virtue which sustains the energy for sanctiiication, for perseverance in holy life, and which imparts triumph over evil. TTie unvirtuous man has no interest in sanctifica- tion, hence all his energies are applied to purely selfish aims, to unrestrained independence and the power of ruling others by his will. "The will to power" is his sole aim and motive. Lacking faith in and devotion and gratitude to God, he strives with all the power of his psychic forces to lift himself above the servile and helpless masses, for the sake of mere gain and vanity. The Voice of God is of little or no concern to him, except as expressed in publicly established laws, which he frequently circumvents. He appreciates the spirit of law for the compulsion of others, but not for himself. His will is obstinately set for dishonor- able self-gratification. Vanity and lust are his greatest delights. On those who thwart his will be wreaks ven- geance. Having faith only in his ego, devoted to his personal lusts and with no religious sense of honor. 1 26 RELIGION OF THE SOUL one can easily imagine his corrupting character. Re- ligiously indolent and irreligiously active, substitut- ing his little voice for the Voice of God, such a man, irrespective of confessional pretenses, is the real atheist and the cause and abetter of all moral and social anarchy. While perseverance in virtue is followed by a gradual uplift of the soul to holy life, the obstinate and capricious activity of the unvirtuous soul mani- fests more and more clearly the utter lack of the religious substance of honor, highmindedness and frankness. His assumed honor is staged artificially by external display. There is a selfish bargain in every mental process and a disguised motive in every aim. Lofty deeds, righteous thoughts and loving kind- ness are displaced by selfish stratagems, artifices and a casual comfortable generosity. What kind of leadership can humanity expect if the time and means of their accepted leaders are not employed for the installation of the highest principles of life? Surely, there are in this class many well meaning men, who would be happy to aid in the establish- ment of better human conditions, but they have no character of virtuous fortitude. All their organized efforts have a selfish aim. And the masses, learning PASSIONS OF THE WILL 127 more by imitation than by other means, are infected by this spirit of religious indolence, which is the most prolific ground for hate and vengeance. Thus, instead of rising through the virtuous tri- umph over the evil, humanity is reaping helplessness, its logical antithesis. It is inherent in the power of the will to attain, through personal conquest, the wilFs inmost life and joy. If the conquest is not virtuous, it must, regard- less of all extenuation, be wicked. There is no al- ternative. Wickedness is the most insidious force, the most deceitful condition, and the most thoroughly con- cealed liar of the soul and, consequently, the con- temner of divine laws, and pride in its true garb. Accordingly, if there is no virtue in the soul, wickedness becomes rampant, and it is more through sheer defense against wickedness than through al- legiance to the laws of God that humanity sustains its weak fabric of laws. Not only is this terrible fact proved by the protective spirit of our legal institu- tions but also by the fact that almost every stranger we meet is regarded more with suspicion than with confidence. This fear of wickedness is the con- sequence of our unvirtuous state and plainly in- dicates the necessity for the war on all evil. 128 RELIGION OF THE SOUL The individual soul is the ground of all battles. All virtuous means must be employed for this con- quest. And the only effective and lasting means is fortitude and perseverance in the allegiance to the Voice of God, the sole might of virtuous life. No one fears a man with a great conscience, for it is known everywhere that he is the only one who can be implicitly trusted, and that the best help comes from him who faithfully and simply represents the divine spirit in his soul. Spiritual Misery The logical contradiction of the virtue of beati- tude is spiritual misery, which manifests itself through insecurity, unrest and infelicity. How can a spiritual being feel secure without a profoundly grounded faith in and devotion and gratitude to the superspiritual source of his life, which is God? How can a will be powerful and firm without the title of divine childship? The title of the unvirtuous soul is his own will and almost everybody claims the right to this title. Hence the field for strife is always prepared by willful men. Their conception of security consists in despoiling others by legal or illegal means, in order to obtain PASSIONS OF THE WILL 129 that security which is common to all rapacious ani- mals. Their whole mentality runs in underground channels of cunning, unable to lift its eyes to the sun of conscience. Conscience is no more a security than is holiness. Neither is believed in by them. Their hearts are not vessels of sacrificial love, as God demands, but gaudy nests for themselves and their intimate associates. The providential history of Divine operation has always ground these fortresses of human selfishness and heartlessness into dust, but the proud being never learns. He fears everything, man, animals, his own shadow and the very thought of Divine justice. Thus imbued with this cowardly spirit, without trust in God and no trust in man, and restless through the lack of religious security, he continues to chase after the fleeting idols of his unvirtuous imagina- tion until the end of his earthly days. How happy he would be could he only substitute some of his past intentions for many of his past deeds! How restful and contented he would feel! Others do not even have that much feeling of re- pentance. They consciously have nothing to repent. To them life is a mere natural fact which is fateful in its very nature and such is their death. Inunortal responsibility often lurks in their minds, but is never admitted into their hearts. To such souls death 1 30 RELIGION OF THE SOUL is a disaster and life a patent nonsense. They live in order to die. The happiness of unvirtuous souls consists in pas- sions for vain ambitions, greed and lust, none of which can be satisfied without violation of con^ science. And they are fully conscious that this sort of happiness is as brief as is its dishonorable motive. Not having any divine interest in his heart, the passionate being longs for material and physical in^ toxication, and, instead of devoting his life to the highest spiritual dignity, he bows down to the low- est animal indulgence, and, for the fleeting morsels of external joy, reaps self-condemnation, bitterness and despair, the logical consequence of unvirtuous conduct. The testaments of great souls never vanish. They constitute the indestructible testimony of the might of conscience, by virtue of which humanity is slowly rising from its spiritual misery. They have left en- lightenment and encouragement to godly life and, above all, the example of sacrifice and the spirit of eternal beatitude, which they have sealed with their lives. TTie testaments of the worldly mighty have all vanished and owing to their ungodly spirit always do and must vanish without leaving the slightest trace of gratitude behind them. PASSIONS OF THE WILL 131 Religious misery is the direct result of our sinful state, of faithlessness, impiousness and ingratitude to God. A spirit closely bound to earth is unable. to lift itself to divine spheres. The yoke which holds it to the earthly level is its own conscienceless will, and regardless of all grumbling and cavilling, it has only itself to blame. In each moment of his life man's inward attitude is the outcome of his self-chosen aims. He always is what he wants to be. PASSIONS OF THE MIND The habitual practice of pride darkens the con- science and intellect of the soul. Without the clear light of God, it sees little or nothing of the holy, true and lovable purpose of universal life. It sees merely its own selfish sentimental and material inter- est and perceives its own ego as the outstanding fact in the midst of a vast, mysterious world. The three distinct passions of this state are con- ceiU ignorance and duplicity. Conceit Egocentric in his will, the unvirtuous soul cannot be otherwise than egocentric in his mind, for thoughts always follow the tendency of the will. It is true that desire is the father of our thoughts, but it is equally true that the will is the maker of all desires. Desires are the effectual and not the original power of the soul. It is precisely this psychological fact which the unvirtuous soul is loath to acknowledge, for this fact spells innate re- sponsibility for all our sentiments. In order to avoid this psychological fact, logically so true and practically so patent, the tortuous mind 132 PASSIONS OF THE MIND 1 33 of man invents all possible and impossible theories, extenuations and palliations in order to escape the innate responsibility for the God-given dignity of our divine childship. The soul is essentially a religious being and each man of honor ought to engrave this most rational truth in his mind with flaming letters. It is the lack of the vision and sense of responsibility to God and every creature which causes all wickedness and the ap- palling conceit and blindness of man. Conceit is blindness in relation to the light of God. Where the soul is determined to be inde- pendent from the Will of God, it cannot be de- pendent from the light of God. Since the soul must have some light for its vision, it takes its own limited reason as the infallible standard of views without responsibility to God. Conceit lies mainly in the irresponsibility of thought. Indeed, the conceited being wants respon- sibility for others, but not for himself. He does not love responsibility as the great, underlying power of our mutual relations, except when it favors his selfish aim. This passion indicates clearly the reason for human falsehoods, for falsehood is the logical course of pride in the mental attitude of the independent, self-centered will. 1 34 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Due to this cause, human visions in all fields of knowledge are prejudiced and confused. Dogmas battle with dogmas and philosophical theories, which again combat dogmas and other theories. And political, social and experimental sciences are in a continuous vortex of perplexity. In this spiritual fermentation* is more conceit and assumed authority than truth and love. This strife itself plainly indicates the unholy motive of those who claim to be *the heralds of truth. In each direc- tion conceit rends apart every better effort, because blindness is essentially discord. Everybody speaks of principles, causes and aims, but only a few take these important terms into seri- ous consideration. These terms are not often ap- plied to the dignity and aim of our life, but merely to selfish ends. The principles of conscience and honor are neither taught nor known in any creed or theory of morals. Yet is there anything more important in our whole life than these two divine factors? Without a highly educated conscience and honor we cannot but remain blind to the sublimity of our spiritual inwardness and the true knowledge of life. Eliminate the will to holiness, the mind to truth and the heart to love, and what remains of the human being? An unspeakable horror. PASSIONS OF THE MIND 1 35 We do not need to reach back into history for human horrors. We have them before us now. And what is the cause? Wickedness of will and conceit and blindness of mind, due to ruthless pride and religious ignorance. Divine light needs no historical dogmas for its support. On the contrary, creeds need the support of divine light. The fact that they became so unin- spiring proves their lack of divine light. Were the creeds as true as they all claim to be, all denomina- tional disputes and hostilities would vanish and the most inspiring revival of religion which humanity has ever witnessed would take place on this earth. But to accomplish this world-reforming task will require far more self-denial, a profounder spirit of truth, an elimination of prejudices, a greater vitality of virtuous life and above all a greater heart than is possessed by the majority of those who preach the various gospels of religion. Only then will the true reformation of mankind take place. Religious Ignorance As wisdom is the course of our practical activity according to divine light and conscience, thus ignor- ance is the course of the practical activity according to conceit and religious blindness. 1 36 RELIGION OF THE SOUL . What worth have deeds, thoughts and sentiments which have no intrinsic and permanent relation to our religious destiny? There is a striking irration- ality in the whole human system. Religious lead- ers are conspicuously discordant among themselves. Political leaders are still more discordant and al- ways intent on material gain and vain ambition. Statesmen and legislators with great hearts and con- sciences are as rare as great prophets. TTie rich hold firmly to their legally privileged station and, dis- dainful of the masses, enjoy themselves according to their own fancies, as if there were no God, no con- science and no self-respect on this earth. The poor, who comprise the masses of humanity, live in ig- norance, helplessness and misery, crying to God for mercy or threatening the temporary owners of this world with vengeance. And the few with virtuous insight are the voices in the wilderness. This is the image of our present world. True, this image has always been thus and has never undergone a radical change save in one sig- nificant development. The spirit of vengeance is becoming more strongly organized. This spirit may cause the destruction of our modem civilization, un- less a heavenly ray of divine light inspires the small group of nobler souls to avert the greatest calamity which has ever threatened the human family. PASSIONS OF THE MIND 137 Fortunes are spent daily on every possible whim but not for the education of the human character. Educational institutions teach everything except the necessary attainment of religious worthiness. And the average man strives and thinks without the knowledge and love of his real destiny. Can one imagine a more absurd situation? Does not conscience tell us that this situation should not be tolerated? Yet, where ignorance and not the light of God in conscience is the leader in our inward- ness, we are unable to live any other life than that of sheer absurdity. How big the proud man considers himself in the moment of his success and how that bigness deflates during his disappointment or in the last hours of his earthly life. He never thinks in terms of eternity and, like every fool, strives only for momentary suc- cess. How helpless is the tiller of the soil or the worker in the factory. Everything that technical skill can furnish is provided to increase the productive ef- ficiency of his muscles, with too little provision for the higher efficiency of his life. What is the purport of his labor? Is it merely the sustenance of his bodily needs? This would place him on a par with animals, who labor only to supply their im- mediate physical wants. 1 38 RELIGION OF THE SOUL We are told that fields and factories are not educational institutions. If they are not educational, what are they? Is not labor ennobling and idleness degrading ? Why is the ultimate motive and purpose of labor not made clear in our factory organizations? Because there is no godly purpose in these establish- ments. The beneficial effect of such establishments derives more from providential conditions than from the good motives of men. The stronger rarely makes it the issue of his life to help his weaker brethren. Ignorant, through pride and conceit, he fails in his destiny. He fails to build better human relations and to reap immortal honor and gratitude. Ignorance is the result of ignoring conscience and no soul is released from the responsibility for its con- sequences. Duplicity Simplicity is the last virtue of the high mentality of the virtuous soul and duplicity the passion of the low mentality of the unvirtuous soul. Its specific features are insincerity, untruthfulness and immod- esty of attitude. How is it possible for a man without a living religi- ous faith, devotion and gratitude, which means. PASSIONS OF THE MIND 139 without the religious bond of lofty and pure mental- ity, to be sincere? Not being faithfully attached to the light of God and religious wisdom, he cannot see sincerity as the necessary manifestation of his good will. Thus, in order to cover the weakness of his will, he employs affectation, speciousness and cautious reserve. He seldom asks a direct question or gives a direct an- swer. His whole mentality is crooked, tortuous and confused. His motives are timid and insensitive with regard to good actions and rather alert to everything com- mon or low. Hence the usual manifestation of sus- picion instead of trust and faith. His energy for the good being small or wholly absent, the insincere man lives on motives of self-de- fense, just as all animals do. The plan of holy Hfe never enters his mind and, being inwardly distrust- ful, owing to lack of religious faith, he trusts nobody and nothing except his will to attain an immediate, transient aim. If he fails in this selfish trust, which so frequently happens, his distrust becomes deeper and more firmly entrenched. Sincerity is practically the good, open will, as God wants us to be, and insincerity the exact reverse. The sincere soul has nothing to conceal, even if it has sinned. We are all sinners. 140 RELIGION OF THE SOUL This fateful state ought to bind us with all the more mutual compassion and help. We need more encouragement, enlightenment and inspiration than condemnation. But only men with great sincerity of religious character are able to infuse into humanity these heavenly powers. Sincerity or insincerity constitute the first test of man's character and the second test is truthfulness or untruthfulness. In these two unconcealable mani- festations each soul lays bare the power or the weakness of its character. Sincerity is the volitional and truthfulness the mental expression of the virtuous character, while insincerity is the volitional and untruthfulness the mental expression of the unvirtuous character. Truthfulness always follows sincerity and untruth- fulness insincerity. The insincere motive may be more or less cleverly concealed, but never can un- truthfulness. For this reason the cunning mind of the untruthful is always prone to indistinct and two- sided statements, that, in the event of exposure, there may remain a loop hole of escape from the indict- ment of malice. This practice in human life is too common to need further explanation. Yet, when we consider its presence in the structure of religious doctrines and in international and social covenants, we must not PASSIONS OF THE MIND 14 1 wonder that humanity has no faith in what it is taught to believe. Humanity is faithless because those who should lead us to truth and give the living example of truth- fulness are themselves either powerless or unwilling to believe in truth. They are not virtuous as leaders ought to be. How can we expect sincere devotion from mankind to ideals which benefit more the few than the many? Truthfulness is the ideal bond of esteem and love, and untruthfulness is the disruption of this bond. Untruthfulness is a living lie, a crime against God and man, the denial of each righteous expectation and the breeding source of all disasters. It is the dis- regard of holy testimony which causes the character- istic of deceit so common to all cunning brutes. It creeps into all human relations, into all stations of life, and even vaunts its cleverness. In his irreligious ignorance, the passionate soul realizes neither the terrible dishonor of false and evasive statements nor the fact that all crimes begin with a lie. The untruthful standpoint toward God can bear no other fruit. The last expression of the passion of duplicity is the immodesty of the soul's inward attitude. Being detached from the eternal principle of Di- vine holiness, truth and love, one can easily imagine 142 RELIGION OF THE SOUL the fate which befalls the unvirtuous man. Floating on the restless waves of passion, the boastful man vaunts himself, that others may see and admire his position and his attainments. But when submerged in the depths and buried by the never-ceasing volume of nameless other passions, he cries to God for mercy or to man for help. This is the inward image of the boastful man. He is always immodest in success and correspond- ingly dejected in failure or disappointment in the pursuit of idols. There is no virtuous weight to his will, no balance to his mind, and his sentiment, bored by its own emptiness, flutters from one external thing to another. Where the soul's spiritual forces are not closely allied with the Voice of God and where His holi- ness, truth and love are not the eternal types of our life, man conceives all sorts of pitiful types of human vanity, hypocrisy, arrogance and shameless- ness, the destroyers of the sublime sense of divine adoration. The boastful man always lays bare the barren- ness of his proud and empty soul, the hypocrite his sanctimonious artificiality, the arrogant his rude- ness, and the shameless the total absence of inward honor. Sham is the intrinsic tendency of each pas- sion, and it cannot fail to delude itself. PASSIONS OF THE MIND 143 I Consequently, no man is so greatly mortified as he who suffers the consequences of his immodest attitude and standpoint of life. His self-made heaven has disappeared. His purchased friends have gone. The bright world of his selfish optimism becomes dark. His dull mind broods and sees noth- ing but the crushing of all his hopes and sentiments. Fortunate is he who, in this fearful extremity, can raise his voice to God and plead for mercy. But the unvirtuous soul is often so full of falsehood that he rather gives himself to despair than seeks for the gate of repentance and rehabilitation. He blames everybody and everything except himself. Even now he does not permit conscience to speak to him, for he knows that conscience is true* and that he is not true. He feels what he has never felt before, his torturing unimportance, and often resorts to suicide as his sole deliverance. The supreme law of God for man is divine child- ship, and this means to be inwardly humble, true and full of love. Religious simplicity of character is the affirmation of divine childship, and duplicity its denial. PASSIONS OF THE HEART The heart is the spiritual vessel in which all habitual determinations are placed and kept as the fruitional achievement of the will and the intrinsic property of the soul. The life of the will consists in living on its own sentiments, because these con- stitute its real wealth or poverty and the power and flavor of its being. The heart is the infallible image of the soul's inwardness, in which image is engraven the truthful record of its good or evil sentiments. No step or thought is taken without the soul's heart. Instinct, impulse, aspiration, all of these come from the heart, which burns like a spiritual furnace. Sentiments are the heat of spiritual life, but it is the self-conscious will that produces the spiritual heat. Some sentiments incline toward a certain object with more intensity than others, for the will, by continuous habit of its determination in«a par- ticular direction, makes them more intense. Hius each soul is responsible for its sentimental complex as well as for the intensity or passiveness of each particular sentiment. 144 PASSIONS OF THE HEART 145 The soul has the freedom to choose such senti- ments as it desires to possess. Associations merely influence the sentimentality of spiritual beings, but they have no compulsive or coercive power. The will is intrinsically free. It cannot be compelled without its own consent. Environments are only conditions for expressing its freedom. There are three cardinal passions in the evil sen- timental complex of the souf; hate, unrighteous- ness and selfishness. Hate Hate is the spiritual opposite of love. Love consists in adoring the might and truth of worthiness and of the profound desire to possess worthiness, while hate lives on uncontrolled con- tempt, irrespective of actual conditions and without any sense and aim of worthiness. In other words, love constitutes the sacrificial tendency of worthiest adoration, consisting in the constant willingness to offer its sentiments to the highest, the holiest and the truest reahty of life. Hate has no such purpose. Proud, self-willed and self-centered in its determination, and conceited and assuming in its mentality, all that it wants is independent self-assertion. Hate is the spirit of 1 46 RELIGION OF THE SOUL vanity, of self-contemplation, self-indulgence and of the scorn of and apathy toward everything above its unworthy standpoint. Hating souls are out of all bonds of allegiance to holiness, truth and love, and the fact that many crimes and sins are committed in moments of hate proves the absence of these holy bonds. Hate is full of falsehood, because its very sen- timent is false. It never estimates men or facts according to the Divine law of love and conscience, but according to the degree of the intensity of strictly personal feeling and the habit of its pride. Thus it always exaggerates the faults of others in order to inflate its own vanity. It criticizes and cavils without constructive intentions and belittles or forgets the merits of others in order to avoid the acknowledgment of its own baseness. It is always noisy and destructive in its motive, and, conscious of the great weakness of the human character, it makes use of this weakness for its own ends. Like an infectious pestilence, hate penetrates religious denominations, nations, classes, families and individuals. Its evil spirit is cruel. It knows no sacrifice and no charity. Conscience is not its rule. Thus, if hate cannot subdue everything within its reach, it seeks to destroy. All ungodly conquests are insti- PASSIONS OF THE HEART 147 gated by hate and achieved by the wicked means of destruction. The wicked and dishonorable standpoint toward God and His sacrificial plan of creation is the actual cause of all human hatred. The hating soul has no faith in divine participa- tion, cooperation and affirmation. It does not believe in divine childship and human brotherhood and wants no Voice of God as the rule of its life. All it wants is self-willed pride, vanity and lust. Toward the weaker it displays contempt and toward the stronger envy, the secret abetter of all malice. Devoid of inward self-esteem, which flows from the living faith in God, the hater has no power for the worthy appraisal of life. Therefore he stoops to the adoration of the flesh in order to satiate his craving desires. The heart is full of desires. They are the very life of the heart. Hence, if the heart is not virtuous, its desires must be unworthy. Sensual delight, which is merely a providential means of procreation and permissible only in life- long bonds of mutual unselfish love for the exclusive aim of rearing virtuous children, becomes the devour- ing passion of the soul. Legal and illegal means are widely employed in order to indulge in this destructive idol of sensuality. 148 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Conscience, honor, faithfulness, the energy of will, the cultivation of high mentality and sacrificial sen- timents, even health and means, are thrown to the winds in this animal devotion to lust. This world-wide calamity, unrestrained by pub- lic educational methods, accounts for the stupendous lack of great thinkers, preachers, artists and great leaders of humanity. Accumulation of wealth and sensual luxuries always have and always will paralyze and cripple the divine sense of sacrifice in man. Not possessing sacrificial sense in his heart, and devoted not to the worthiness but to the lust of life, the passionate soul always searches for those means which enhance sensual luxuries. Wealth has only one intrinsic value, and this value lies in its material power as a means for the education of the human character. No other value can be conscientiously attributed to wealth, as is evidenced by the injustice and inefficiency of its distribution and by its corrupting effects. If this intrinsic value of material means is not taken into serious account, as it rarely is, the soul, intent on luxury, devotes its energy to greed. Envy is the instigator of hate, and greed is its executor. Greed is cruel in all its motives. To grab, regardless of conscience, sacrificial feeling, righteous PASSIONS OF THE HEART 149 insight, and contempt of human necessities, is its very life. AH legal and illegal means, alluring promises and false pretenses are employed in order to satiate its devouring spirit. Economy, competition, progress and patriotism are the vehicles on which the moloch of greed rides to its goal of vanity and luxury and boastfully pro- claims its achievements to be the result of superior energy and intelligence. The power of personal energy serves as a pretext with which to conceal the motive to crush the ignorant and the weak. Greed is not interested in the elevation but the exploitation of the masses. It gives as little as pos- sible for the crying educational needs of man and keeps as much as possible for the ill-gotten privilege of its station. Intrinsically heartless and ignorant, the greedy soul looks like a combination of a rat and a wolf, the former working underground and the other above the ground in order to appease its abysmal hunger for wordly riches. Greed is a passion fit only for the lowest animals, and not for those who have conscience and honor in their souls. Envy, greed and sensuality are the trio on which hate, with its inward pride and vanity, lives. They are the supporters of the concealed hate of every- thing divine, of everything that is glorious, true and 1 50 RELIGION OF THE SOUL sacrificial. The degrees of the intensity of this hate and its appUcation in life are innumerable, and \nnumerable are its daily manifestations. Unrighteousness Righteousness is the holy guardian of sacrificial and worthy values, and unrighteousness the violator and abuser of these sacred values. The inherent tendency of unrighteousness is to corrupt, betray or appropriate everything in the spiritual and material spheres of life that oppor- tunely presents itself as an object of prey and malice. Its malicious and predatory spirit is conscious of the general trustfulness of man, and it is this trust- fulness which unrighteousness undermines and destroys. With envy, mendacity, avarice and sen- suality as its main motives, it spreads calumny, dis- regards truth and honesty and indulges in carnal appetites, resulting in assaults on honor, benevo- lence and innocence. Unrighteousness is the temper of wickedness, capable of attuning itself to every human emotion in order to obtain a selfish satisfaction or profit. Its force of conviction is strictly personal interest, with- out God and conscience. Its forces of persuasion are cunning and embellished lies, and its iorce of PASSIONS OF THE HEART 1 5 1 • sentiment an assumed and elaborated sympathy in order to attain its base aims and purposes. Perverted in his motives and sentiment, the unrighteous man can use no other representation than false pretexts and ungrounded assumptions. If his promise fails, he, with feigned regret, offers the excuse that he, too, is deceived. He always begins with a lie and ends with a lie. When exposed and condemned, he still endeavors to palliate his crimes, and, if unsuccessful, appeals to mercy — ^he who had no compassion for the righteously earned honor, means and innocence of his fellow-beings. Even his remorse is insincere, for, if it were sin- cere, he would use all his efforts to repair the com- mitted wrong. He grieves far more over his own immediate misfortunes than for those who through long periods of time have suffered through his wickedness. Unrighteousness is so insidious that the clever criminal usually evades the weak fabric of estab- lished laws and is even able to sustain a superficial respectability, supported by an occasional display of benevolence from his ill-gotten gains. If his astuteness fails him and his crime is revealed, he often strives to avail himself of cor- ruptive means with those who are conscience-bound 1 52 RELIGION OF THE SOUL to be the faithful interpreters and defenders of human justice. Nothing is holy, nothing is true, and nothing is sacrificial to the unrighteous. / Our world suffers from the disregard and laxity I of justice and is ruled not by righteousness, but by schemes of inflated vanity cloaked in a thin garb of justice. There is an unrighteous competition of creeds, nations, classes, corporations, families and individuals under the name or without the name of God, with little or no spirit of God in the hearts of men. It is this fact which fills the religious soul with anxiety for the future of humanity. That humanity has survived more than one disaster is no consola- tion, but a fatalistic statement. Such statements overlook the tremendous spiritual losses and suffer- ing which these disasters have caused and, with each recrudescence, are bound to cause again. Surely, the privileged classes always suffer less than the unprivileged ones. Hence their optimistic oracles are no safe gauge for security and progress. Spiritual progress, moreover, rarely comes from these quarters. It has come mainly from those who suf- fered crucifixion, burning, prisons, calumnies, starva- tion and all sorts of persecution, but with the burn- ing love of God in their righteous hearts. Nothing has been too difficult for them to surmount and PASSIONS OF THE HEART 153 endure in order to render the greatest possible serv- ice to humanity; that very humanity which is so passive to the religious sublimity of our life. Are there better fields of glory than the fields of righteousness? Is the better half of mankind pre- pared for the most decisive battle of our life? God demands righteousness to prove the esteem and love of conscience. Man demands righteousness in order to have faith in and respect for his fellow-beings. Even animals expect righteousness from man in order to feel his superiority over themselves. But the unrighteous soul considers neither the Voice of God nor faith and respect. All he does consider is his own ungodly selfishness. He steals the divine sanction of honor and considers it his own property. He assumes power without the divine title of sacredness. He feels that he owes nothing to anybody except to himself. He lives in order to dictate his arbitrary will, and not in order to render worthy service, as all righteous and mighty spirits do. He wastes his life on egotistic nothingness and on those he gratuitously favors. No sacred merit is ever seriously considered. He leaves behind him no clear marks of honorable deeds, no ideas which are the products of high and worthy intellect, and no sentiments that awaken immortal gratitude. 1 54 RELIGION OF THE SOUL God and humanity, not to speak of the higher and lower creatures in God's universe, are of no living interest to him; therefore it is just that he should be forgotten. Thus millions of souls pass through the shadow of our sphere without ever concentrating their atten- tion upon the justice of God. They see His holy justice in many incidents of individual and collective life. They sometimes feel justice in their inward- ness, for they must consider it in their daily activ- ities, but they have no living love for it. The worth of each soul is adjudicated according to the degree of its intrinsic righteousness or unright- eousness, and accordingly the soul receives its prov- idential station in another life. Selfishness Goodness is the collective expression of all vir- tues, and selfishness the collective expression of all passions. Selfishness is inherent in pride, with its vanity and ingratitude. Here the personal self makes itself the object of self -adoration, pretentiousness and self-fruition. Here he demonstrates his failure of immortal power and, being in continuous strife with other PASSIONS OF THE HEART 155 self-adoring souls, he cannot reap anything but religious misery and discontent. Not having the divine ground as the source of his motives, the selfish man is unable to cause heavenly harmony, and encounters continuous obsta- cles in his achievements, which, if attained, give only momentary satisfaction. The human self is always bored by its own selfishness and continually chases after external impressions, excitements and indulgences, only to feel the disappointment of their uselessness and instability. He knows no mental and sentimental discipline and culture, and his heart is obdurate and insensitive to spiritual dignity and refinement. Intox- ication with vanity and sensuality are of very short duration and leave disillusion and suffering as the enduring mark of their visit. Thus, if the self-conscious and self-sentient will of man searches for such idols only, his intellect must necessarily remain shallow and shortsighted. His mind always dwells on surfaces and never remains long enough with any worthy object to con- centrate for profounder scrutiny. Owing to his untrained motives and ideas, his memory cannot hold profounder thoughts, of which he has a casual glimpse, but of which he is unable to avail himself for his own spiritual benefit. This 156 RELIGION OF THE SOUL state causes his skeptical fatalism, in which he finds the incentive and the excuse to care chiefly for himself. Self-sympathetic for himself and what pleases him, and indifferent or antipathetic to anything above or beneath him. all his feelings circle around his own ego, as the ground and aim of all his aspirations. Selfishness is the logical result of all passions, the inward unwillingness, inattention and apathy to our glorious and immortal predestination. The mass of men believe in God more out of fear and the hope of unmerited blessing than because of sincere adoration, knowledge and love of God. Only the few have profounder religious sentiments. There is a deeply inrooted selfish undercurrent, inculcated by traditional pride and prejudice, in all religious creeds. Their paramount teaching is not Divine Fatherhood and, consequently, they do not preeminently insist on our divine childship and divine brotherhood, all of which constitute the real and actual essence of religion. By reason of this fact the gates of hypocrisy and fanaticism are broadly open, resulting in mutual disrespect, hatred, persecution and the fiendish con- demnation to **eternar* torture.' A confession with- out regard to the Voice of God, despite its wish to the contrary, can be nothing else but a mental PASSIONS OF THE HEART 157 and sentimental distortion of the divine spirit of religion. This selfish standpoint, together with the want of knowledge of the divine cause and aim of our exist- ence, is responsible for the general religious confusion and inertness. Many great names have been written on the ban- ners of religion in the effort to further its mission and, while many of them produced a temporary awakening, religious progress is slow and still remains far from its ultimate aim. The very grandeur of religion demands a great world vision. It cannot be confined, as it always has been, to local or temporary sources. We must know the might of God in all its manifestations. We must know the very essence and purport of our souls. We must know at least the general structure and significance of the whole universe before we shall be able to recognize the futility, ignorance and shame of our selfish life. Selfishness brings us down to the comparison with animals. The selfish soul never compares himself with the great spirits above or the best spirits among us, in order to profit by their experience. In his spiritual littleness he compares himself with his equals or, more frequently, with those who to him 1 58 RELIGION OF THE SOUL appear less important than himself, in order to enjoy his self-satisfaction. He is nearly as self-centered in his little heart, as self-willed, suspicious, cunning, vain, greedy and sensual as animals are. His spirit knows no broader harmonies of life, but is tribal and gregarious. He never attempts to search for better associations in order to attain greater spiritual tastes and visions. And, if he finds such associations, they do not respond to his arbitrary will and wishes. His senses are mainly concentrated on .things material, and not on spiritual honor and conscience. Yet he always appeals to conscience for the sake of his selfish aims. He makes conscience the instru- ment of his selfishness. If he is cultured, in the worldly sense, he becomes all the more dangerous, for his superficial amenities are more enticing and the object of his prey more easily caught. Our world is full of tacticians of selfishness. They assume the garb of respectability. They speak deliberately and cautiously. They not only appeal to the sentiment of profit but also to the sentiment of happiness. The whole human weakness is care- fully studied and, by means of clever ingratiation and flattery, conquered for his selfish ends. *T have got him,*' is his triumphant sentiment. And, just as he deceives others, he himself is deceived, and PASSIONS OF THE HEART 1 59 ultimately believes that no man can live without deceit and be materially successful. This conclu- sion, based on human experience, reveals the obvious indictment of the selfishness of the human race. Material objects have only instrumental value. If instruments are mistaken for the aim of Ufe, then our inner sense of worthiness and of our divine voca- tion must suffer. It is the suffering from the want of this divine power which causes our passions and the ungodly disorder among us. In a vortex of passions it is impossible to have clear visions of our sublime des- tiny and a heart with pure sentiments. It is impos- sible to have motives which reach out beyond our little ego unless the practice of goodness is more encouraged. Goodness, being the general expression of vir- tuous life, by virtue of this fact becomes the intro- duction and inducement to virtues. In itself the most patient virtue, all it demands is little acts of benevo- lence and kindness frequently repeated. A little good deed which any child can perform, a good, sincere counsel which every man ought to be able to give, a little encouragement and cheer to every- body, is an enjoyment of the goodness of life itself. In order not to fail in these acts, greater restraint of our passionate impulses, a gradual abatement of 1 60 RELIGION OF THE SOU L the mere lust of life and of the most insisting passions must be applied, that our hearts may attain purer and sublimet sensibilities. Furthermore, the virtuous spirit must be gradually fostered until it penetrates into the deepest recesses of the heart, becomes the root of all sentiments, and until it bears the heavenly fruit of greater sacri- fices. Only then will our souls rejoice in true happiness. The intellectually gifted man ought to turn his mind toward his own inwardness and apply intro- spection and self-observation of his spiritual forces, in order clearly to see in them the shining might of conscience and in this conscience the eternal work of God, full of ineffable majesty, truth and love. Here he will find all the proofs his heart desires, not only convincing proofs but the dominating and insisting proofs of his human dignity, profound men- tality and that great and ravishing love which knows no other bounds than the absolute might and beauty of God. The strong of will, even if he is a great sinner, has every motive to become a great saint. Nothing has been too difficult for him in order to attain selfish aims. Why should it be so difficult for him to attain the eternal aim of his life? He has a stronger determination and greater endurance and persever- PASSIONS OF THE HEART 161 ance in the face of obstacles. He is able to suffer more than others and has no need to show his suffer- ing. None needs to know his bleeding heart except God and himself. All he has to do is to change his selfish motives into unselfish motives, and live them, in order to insure the glory and greatness of his soul. In order to eliminate selfishness from the human heart, the education in goodness must begin from the cradle and never cease. Worthy life consists in the continuous performance of good deeds. If we miss one day in performing some good deed we ought to weep from remorse. It is a lost and worthless day. Parents who do not inculcate goodness in the hearts of their children are bad parents. The spiritual treasures of their characters is the worthiest inheritance. Teachers who do not explain the value of their instruction cannot expect due reverence. The spirit of teaching flows from sacrificial motives, and these motives must be instilled in every learner. Preachers who in their sermons do not hold the esteem and necessity of goodness before their hear- ers are poor missionaries. Goodness is the most effective mark of the divine spirit. Friends whose first and last impulse and sentiment is not the out- flow of pure goodness are mere traders in selfish sentiments. 1 62 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Fortunately, not all human souls are wholly sel- fish. There are many who do a little good, but there are too few who do much good. If the broad spirit of goodness is not assiduously encouraged and fostered in the human heart, little or nothing divine can be perceived and sensed, leav- ing humanity without the spiritual remedy which alone is able to suppress and eliminate the most com- mon ailment of our hearts. Selfishness is the most widespread ailment and ugliness of the soul. It clouds the conscience, weakens the good-will, obscures the mind, chills the heart and, if ambitious and ruthless, becomes the wicked destroyer of that little divine sense by virtue of which humanity barely holds its head above the sea of sins and passions. The destruction of passions cannot be accom- plished by the mere knowledge of the fact that we are so full of them. We must know their psycho- logical reason in order to reach the root of all pas- sions. The cure of symptoms is not a cure of the disease. Suppressed in one place, it affects other vital parts until it finally accomplishes its work of destruction. The competent diagnostician always searches for the cause of the disease in order to attack it in its secret habitation. He who does not thoroughly PASSIONS OF THE HEART 1 63 know the healthful structure of the body cannot find the hidden place. Hence, unless we under- stand the divine structure of conscience, and the structure of the soul, the elimination of passions out of the human heart cannot be successfully achieved. As in diet and exercise lies the secret of physical health, so in spiritual food and work lies the secret of the purity and sublimity of human character. THE BODY OF THE SOUL What is the hod}) of the soul? Existentially, the body of the soul is a fragment of the universal substance of nature, created by virtue of Divine extramanence, which constitutes the outward might of God. What is the purpose of the existence of the p/i\;s- ical form of the soul? The essential purpose of everything physical, or nature in general and of the physical body in par- ticular, is the instrumental, illustrative and useful manifestation of spiritual activity and value. Wh^ do Tve call bodies instrumental fofces and forms? Because, as facts prove, the material body has no autonomic spiritual forces; it has neither will nor intellect nor sentiment, but is adaptable only as an instrument for the spiritual expression of volun- tary, intelligent and sentimental forces. It has no autonomic, but only automatic potentiality. The 164 THE BODY OF THE SOUL 165 human body executes all physical expressions, yet it is the soul that plans and leads its body to this execution. It is always the spiritual substance or soul which controls and uses the form of the phys- ical substance or body, a fact which is proved in our daily experience. Wh^ is instrumentality the first force of the body? Because instrumentality is the means and condi- tion of outward activity, and activity is the first spiritual form pf the soul. Phvsical forces are invariably concomitant and correspond with the spiritual forces. Thus the brain is only the instrument of think- ing, but not the thinking force. An architect or builder may have many structural ideas, yet he can- not execute them concretely in order to convey them to the vision of others without structural means. Man cannot convey his thoughts without speech or signs, which are essentially instrumental. The brain is the physical instrument through which the complex of knowledge is held and accord- ing to which the soul defines its thoughts. This, however, by no means proves that the self-conscious and self-sentient will is part of the brain. On the contrary, with a little thought, everybody can see that it is not the brain which controls the spiritual 1 66 RELIGION OF THE SOUL forces of man, but that the soul always controls its brain. The soul directs the brain in any direc- tion it wishes. It cultivates it morally and phys- ically, or weakens it by distractions and dissipations. The weak human intellect is always prone to take the instrument for realities or effects for causes of life, a fact which clearly manifests the childishness of the human mind and the lack of the power of profounder insight. The heart is the instrument for the sustaining of physical life, just as sentiments are the actuating and sustaining forces of our spiritual life. Like the blood in the body, these sentiments circulate through all parts of the soul's life. And, like the pure blood which obtains its force from pure atmosphere and pure and simple food, thus also great sentiments obtain their power from the pure spiritual atmosphere and pure, unselfish objects of fruitional life. The second feature of the body is its force of illustration. Each soul, whether superhuman, human or animal, is clearly illustrated by its body, not only in its generic and racial but even in spe- cifically psychological features. At the first sight of anybody we perceive the general expression of the soul's inwardness. In man we see the various degrees of volitional, intel- THE BODY OF THE SOUL 167 lectual and sentimental powers, their deficiency or their almost total absence. We see the particular moral or immoral tendencies; also various talents and aptitudes. We feel the moral sympathy or its absence in the whole external attitude. We see the influence of racial traditions and of mental and sen- timental culture, or the distinct want of culture. The face of every man and animal is the plastic image of the soul. Its habitual tendency and par- ticular emotions are illustrated in the form and motions of the face and other parts of the body. We call these expressions spontaneous, but spon- taneity is the inherent attribute of the will. Spon- taneity does not exist in a physical body. It only expresses it, plastically and formally. The body of the soul is merely a physical mechanism through which the soul acts and expresses itself externally. Each body is a mere physical instrument for the purpose of the illustration and utility of spiritual life. In itself it possesses neither virtue nor passion. It only illustrates virtues and passions physically as an external concomitant of life. The whole nature is the external concomitant of spiritual life. Creationally and providentially it adheres to every spiritual being in each sphere of existence. The highest as well as the lowest spirits have physical bodies, each corresponding with and 1 68 RELIGION OF THE SOUL appropriately defining the inward state of the soul. The forms of bodies are as various as are the col- lective and particular states of souls. Since the collective and particular states of souls are numer- ically infinite, the forms of bodies must be infinite in their expressions. Our sphere of life furnishes us only a very limited number of these forms, though even these are too numerous for any human being to know. The evidence of the utility of bodies, and of nature in general, is obvious and needs no further explanation. The whole external life of nature expresses itself most forcibly through its utility, which adds greatly to the instruction and joy of all good deeds, while its abuse justly punishes all who live as if nature and body and not the great spiritual destiny were the sole aim of life. Is it possible to visualize the soul and its body in their substantial form and inseparable relation? Yes, it is not only possible but also necessary to see this psycho-physical form, which constitutes our personal being, in order to understand the absolute necessity of our inward and outward relation to God and the holy purpose of our life. This subject is explained in the last chapters of the work "The Face of God and the Plan of Divine Creation." THE BO DY OF THE S O UL 1 69 Has the body of the soul a religious value? Indeed it has. Like everything material in the universe, being strictly instrumental, illustrative and useful in its essence, thus also the body of the soul is the external personal form of this physical essence. Through this form the soul performs all its out- ward activities, reveals its own spiritual content, and realizes its sentimental life of fruition, either worthily or unworthily. The body must be used as a skilled mechanician uses his best instrument. It should always be ready for constructive accomplishments. It ought to be esteemed as a gift of God and, irrespective of its natural deficiencies and ailments, regarded as the providential means for the fulfillment of our holy destiny. Material joys must be looked upon from the standpoint of conscience, worthiness and the great aim of our life, and accepted and conducted accord- ingly. All other material joys are selfish and thus not only impede the progress of mankind, but also contaminate and destroy the virtuous sensibilities and refinement of the soul. THE FUTURE LIFE Life in its spiritual and physical singularity, by the fact of its inherent definition, is immortal. The pessimistic term death is not annihilation, as it superficially appears, but a process of spiritual transition and physical transformation of life. As the potentiality of material elements dwells in each natural fragment, thus the potentiality of volitional, mental and sentimental expressions dwells in each spiritual being. The self-conscious and self -sentient will, which constitutes the personality of the soul, can no more disintegrate or its forces be separated from each other than the natural units of fire, light and heat, except in relative discriminations and applications. In both instances the substantial spiritual and nat- ural units forever retain their existential forms. None can conceive or has ever experienced a will without thought and sentiments, a thought without will and sentiments, or sentiment without will and thought. Nor has anyone ever conceived fire without light and heat, light without fire and heat, or heat with- out fire and light. 170 THE FUTURE UFE [71^ This orientation demonstrates immortality only from the existential standpoint. There yet are two more important standpoints from which immortality must be considered, the spiritual and superspiritual standpoints. Spiritual life, in its principle and evolution, has more existential importance than natural life. The spiritual substance, being volitional, intelligent and sentimental, possesses a greater degree of dignity than a mere instrumental, illustrative and utilitarian substance. The idea and sentiment of spiritual inmiortality is far more insisting than material inde- structibility. The human sense of dignity vehe- mently rejects the comparison of its essence with matter. Every self-respecting man sacrifices all mate- rial means before he yields a moral point of his spiritual life. But above these demonstrations of immortality stands the superspiritual evidence that our spiritual forces, in order to sustain their dignity, continuously aim at superspiritual dignity and honor as the supreme value of their life. The human being dis- dains to be called base, false and wicked. Dignity, wisdom and love are not integral forces of the soul, but the ruling mights of the soul. We attain dignity through the application of our will to the dignity of our character. We attain wisdom 1 72 RELIGION OF THE SOUL through thinking of what is superspiritually and objectively true and right. And we obtain love through the cultivation of sacrificial sentiments in our hearts. True love demands pure and unselfish sentiments and gives proof of the greatness and lofti- ness of the religious character. To assert that ideas, sentiments and heroism are immortal, and that the personal source and powet which produces immortal ideas, sentiments and heroism is mortal, reveals ignorance of the first prin- ciples of logic. B^ Tvhat means are ive best able to understand the course of our future life? By means of the superspiritual might and form of justice. All religious traditions and all inward feeling pertaining to future life are established on the more or less profound sense of this Divine might. In this instance, as in many other religious instances, the anthropomorphic spirit of man casts its shadows. Thus far we have had mainly idealistic visions, consisting in a general promise of the con- templation of God as the ultimate aim of our life. We have purgatories, with a final but indistinct release to heaven. We have horrible hells in which no consolation or salvation beckons to those who are doomed to eternal torture. There are presenta- THE FUTURE LIFE 1 73 tions of joy and punishment in the future life which are very human and garbed in anthropomorphic crudeness. The eschatological problem of all creeds reflects the lack of greatness in their proclaimed tenets and the impotence of their invitation to the future life. All their views are geocentric and almost domestic in general concept and too cruel in their negative features to cause inspiration and living interest in our future life. Fear has only an accessory educational value and, if constantly exaggerated, causes servile submission, dullness of mind and fatalistic or desperate predis- positions. Unprogressiveness and revolutions always thrive on tyrannies. True education consists in causing understanding and love for the inmiortal grandeur of our life. If the grandeur of our future life is not considered an integral part of religious education, and is treated superficially, no man can expect a living interest in religion. All our life's efforts are consciously devoted to the future. If it is only a matter of one future moment, it is this future moment which constitutes the incentive of our activity. Our whole life con- sists of a continuous chain of future moments, because the future is the real process of our aim and 1 74 RELIGION OF THE SOUL of life itself. What is progress or evolution if not the inherent tendency to attain our ultimate aim? And .what is this ultimate aim if not the attainment of the "Highest and Best," which is holiness, truth and love, the eternally urging trinity of our life? Indeed, we do consider our steps from the past into the present, but we do not consider them as diligently and as arduously as our steps from the present into the future. The goal of our life, and this means the goal of our dignity, understanding and love, is always immediately before us. Either in life or death this goal never leaves our thoughts and sentiments. Each accomplished individual or collective prog- ress is nothing else but a renewed fulfillment of jus- tice. But the relative justice of incidental facts must not be confounded with the absolute justice, which involves the whole complex of our determina- tions, ideas and sentiments, which involves the esteem or disregard of holy bonds of fulfilled or unfulfilled promises and the care or neglect of the religious culture of mind and the sacrificial motives of sentiments. It is from this standpoint of absolute justice that the soul which comes into and leaves our sphere of life must be judged in order to obtain a general insight into its past and future life. THE FUTURE UFE 175 Worlds and innumerable spheres of worlds are mere providential conditions for souls which in each instant of their lives are essentially what they have made themselves. Thus, according to their self- determined worthiness or unworthiness, they receive the just and charitable conditions in which to fulfill their destiny. Everything existential, spiritual as well as natural, lives in time and space. There are no planes or states without the natural forms of time and space, as some, in their misunderstanding of and incon- sistent aversion to nature, maintain. God is not a mere existence, but a Superexistence from which all existences creationally derive. His eternity is not a part of time, however superior, but it causes time as a natural means for the participa- tion of souls in His eternity. God is not a locality, however spacious His extramanent or outer might may be, but the eternal source of universal space and the center around which all space extends. The universe is essentially theocentric. It is continually created by the eternal sun of Divine extramanence, the absolute might of outward man- ifestation. Thus the universe is a great, magnificent sphere surrounding the central sun of God. This fact by no means intimates that God dwells in time and space, for time and space are relative 1 76 RELIGION OF THE SOUL to His creative might. God is not dependent from time and space, as is a creature, because he pos- sesses the principle of both in His creative might, a thing of which a creature is absolutely incapable. To God, time and space are no conditions of existence, as they are to us. He wields and rules time and space absolutely in order to condition the spiritual and natural existence for the cooperation with His Divine plan, which is essentially superspir- itual. Time and space are mere natural quanti- tative conditions of relative life. The prevalent idea that God exists somewhere beyond the universe does not alter this so far per- plexing question. The ."somewhere" cannot be eliminated. All principal spiritual powers and natural forces are central. This is their logical structure, reflecting the absolute structure of Divine life and extram- anence. The spiritual will is the center of all mental and sentimental activity. All electromagnetic or radioactive forces have their relative centers. And all these relative centers are held and caused to move and circle by the absolute center of Divine extram- anence from which the all moving substance of nature derives. God must not be visualized from the standpoint of a proud aloofness, as is customary with man. THE FUTURE UFE 177 He is the center and the heart of the "Highest and Best,*' which our poor souls are constantly using and abusing. The whole universe is one immense order of spir- itual spheres which, by virtue of their cooperating intensity or passivity, are placed in corresponding nearness to or distance from God. In this universal sphere, incalculable to us in its immensity, reigns the perfect order of repelling and gravitating forces, thus forming equilibria of forces on which are maintained the circular courses of tne groups of solar and planetary bodies. There are many equilibria of forces, beginning from the central sun of God and succeeding one another at tremendous distances until they reach the extreme outwardness, where there is neither light, warmth nor life. On each of these equilibrious courses travel the innumerable solar groups like our Milky Way, various in sizes and constellations, yet mere little spots in the divine universe. The greatest force is at its central issue and grad- ually diminishes with each distance. The inward equilibria, with their groups of stellar bodies, contain the greatest force and purity, which, with each distance, diminishes in its power of function. There- fore, all stellar bodies coursing on the inward equi- 1 78 RELIGION OF THE SOUL libria have far greater natural power and beauty than have those on the outward courses. Owing to the prevailing geocentric sense, we employ the terms "upward" and "downward." These terms are correct only when they mean spir- itual elevation and debasement. Yet, from the view- point of existence, they are not correct. There is no existential "upward" and "downward," but an inward and outrvard. Souls, as well as all forces constituting the sub- stance of nature, move both inwardly and outwardly. This is the logical circle of all movements of life. Each volition, thought and sentiment returns to the source of its issue in order to be reaffirmed or rejected. Thus does each so-called element or atom. They are produced and consumed by the substance of nature. All processes and effects of life are in a continuous flux of mutability, but the producing principle remains unchangeable. When the soul reaches the absolute principle of its spirituality, then it lives in the principal creative act of God, full of power, understanding, magnifi- cence and beauty. And thus does physical phenom- enality. By the creational law of concomitance it, too, becomes powerful, bright, magnificent and beautiful. Souls are attracted by free and profound sym- THE FUTURE LIFE 1 79 pathy with the mights of God and His ineffable holi- ness, truth and love. There is nothing in universal life that bears any comparison with these Divine sublimities and grandeurs. Even the wickedest soul could not live without possessing or appropriating at least a small part of this divine expression. Thus, according to the degree of its religious sympathy and intensity, the final sum of virtuous life, or according to the degree of its lack of religious sympathy and interest, the final sum of unvirtuous content, the soul receives its corresponding existen- tial station on the equilibrium and planet for which, out of its own free will, it has prepared itself to continue the course of its elevation or debasement. Consequently, there are two distinct courses of life which each soul is pursuing — ^the inward, or generally called the upward course, and the out- ward or downward course, the former being the course of divine approach and reconciliation and the latter that of removal and estrangement. The Ascent or Inward Course of Life Participation in, cooperation with and affirma- tion of the holiness, truth and love of God is the immutable aim and supreme justice of our life. There is nothing comparable with the aim of the 180 RELIGION OF THE SOUL creational act of God. Its sublimity is so patent and its sacrificial motive so great that the first reflex of the worthiness of our life appals and overwhelms each thinking soul. Even in our dreadful religious ignorance we instinctively feel this importance of life and avail ourselves of all possible spiritual and physical pro- tection in order to insure the continuance of the intrinsic purpose of life itself. There is no sense of self-preservation without the motive of the spir- itual purpose. The divine purpose of sacrifice constitutes the source and ground of our life. Religious cults reveal the might of sacrifice more or less adequately, and every man of conscience feels the value of sac- rifice in his inwardness, irrespective of culture and traditional belief. Religious life means the life of virtue, consisting in the following of the most sac- rificial attributes of God. Values of life are estimated according to their virtuous content, and all souls, despite the claims of various religious cults, rise by the increase, or fall by the decrease of this virtuous content. Vir- tue is the sole divine test of personal dignity, and the growth in virtue the sole path to divine approach and reconciliation. Accordingly, souls which, from their coming on THE FUTURE LIFE m this earth until their departure, have gained in vir- tuous predisposition, as most souls are gaining, pass to spheres which are more adequate and favorable for further rise than ours. There the spiritual and natural conditions are more inspiring and beautiful and the associations more respectful, beneficial and beatifying. As these souls become inwardly purified from their grossest passions, their bodies become cleaner and of a finer form. But, above all, the will for virtuous deeds is stronger, the intellect profounder, brighter and more harmonious, and the sentiments loftier and more tender to others. There is a greater spirit of divine worship, truth and love and greater willingness for mutual concord and soulful cordiality. That phase of life may be of longer duration than ours and it may repeat itself under various con- ditions until the soul makes itself ready for the next step toward the divine approach. But not until the next inward sphere is reached does the soul notice the great transformation of its life. For the count- less souls living in the same sphere of suns differ from each other only slightly, as compared with the souls that have attained the next inward sphere. In the stellar groups of the next inward sphere — unattainable by our vision — the conditions of life differ very distinctly. We know that where the 182 RELIGION OF THE SOUL radioactive force is by thousands of light years nearer to its radioactive center, its force is markedly more powerful, thus causing tremendous transforma- tions and purity in natural effects. Only souls intensely determined to live a strictly virtuous life reach such a sphere. Compared with our earthly life, it appears like a heaven, though it is only the next great step in that direction. Very few souls from this earth pass directly to those spheres. It would take volumes to describe, how- ever imperfectly, the life in this and the following spheres. And to describe such a life would require a lofty and strictly logical imagination, animated by the spirit of all virtues and an intellectual power thus far possessed by no human being. Our world is waiting for the great eschatological genius who will give us the image of thousands of better lives than ours. Very little has been written of the future life, and this little is very unsatisfactory. The serious soul wants to see distinctly the justice of his future as well as of his present life ; and he cannot see this justice unless the great might and magnificence of virtues are made clear to him. The study of the power of virtues is the abso- lute condition of the understanding of the true mean- ing of our life. This study demands a strictly THE FUTURE LIFE 183 religious self-observation, which seems to be of so little interest to the average man. Where this self- observation from the standpoint of conscience is not practiced, man will never be prepared to see and love and can have neither interest in nor devotion to the justice of the highest and best in life. Thus, if justice is not the most palpable power of our dignity and character^ it cannot become the living motive of our aims. We may more or less willingly submit to it, but we shall have no implicit trust in its world-embracing might. We do not endeavor to see the justice of every living object, nor even the justice of our own being, but we are inclined to see everything as objects of our selfish desires. Conscience and dignity are not the moving factors of our life. We appeal to them for our own sake, but we do not live them, and we submit to them rather through necessity than through love. Conscience and dignity are impossible without the soul-permeating justice of God. Justice is the most insisting and penetrating fact in the whole creation. We see and feel its universal might from the cradle to the grave. Each rise and fall of man is a his- tory of justice. Worthy determinations, thoughts and sentiments are the logic of justice, for logic is idealized justice. No science has a permanent basis 184 RELIGION OF THE SOUL without logic, and no logic has a permanent ground without justice. Justice reigns supreme in all man- ifestations of life. The religious instinct of justice in the soul, however unclear and erroneous in its conceptual applications, is intrinsically right In order to present a clearer view of the great- ness of the future life, let us imagine the spiritual force of a score of th^ greatest religious, philosoph- ical, poetical and artistic geniuses and natural sci- entists combined in one personality. Such a supergenius, as we may call him, having such tre- mendous knowledge under his personal control, would, by the fact of superior consciousness of the interrelation of all these mental branches, be far more powerful than the original score of geniuses combined. If we further imagine that all mental and senti- mental defects, which even our greatest genitises pos- sess, are replaced by profounder insight and love, the greatness of this collective power would surpass the expectation of the best and most hopeful intel- lects of man. Great as this attainment appears, it is only the beginning of a greater life, a beginning which each soul must attain in order markedly to approach God. In this attainment alone the average human soul consumes centuries, not because he is not spiritually THE FUTURE LIFE 185 adaptable or incapable of rising, but because of his religious slothfulness and degrading self-indulgence and egoism. Only those who are animated with the ardor of divine allegiance and the burning con- sciousness of their eternal indebtedness and grati- tude for the divine sacrifice of their life make rapid strides toward eternity. No volitional power is too distant for them to attain, no suffering too painful to endure, no apex of light too high to reach and there is no profundity of love and sacrifice for which their souls do not long with great intensity. The soul must exert all its virtuous powers before it can reach half way between our spheres and the inward heavens. It must possess unabated energy for sanctification, a mentality surpassing the com- bined minds of the greatest spirits and scholars of our earth, and a sentiment full of burning love for everything divine. In these middle spheres the transformation of life is already so great that our earthly knowledge embraces too few objects to furnish an approximate illustration. We shall see far more beautiful suns than those in our own sphere. Because they are much nearer to God, these suns are filled with overwhelming expression of divine significance. Each observation of these great suns evokes a deeply moving inspira- 186 RELIGION OF TH E SOUL tion. Their radiance illustrates the history of the creative might of God. Each ray of their light is full of ravishing wonder, permeating the outer spheres with its beatifying might. The atmosphere of these spheres is filled with ecstatic fragrance. The light of truth and warmth of love form the daily bread of spiritual fruition. Heavenly harmonies from the inward heavens reach these spheres and reverberate with the joy of the ultimate promise, the relative union of the soul with God. Tlie bodies of the great souls resident in these spheres are like beams of light, shining with the peculiar huei of the soul's virtuous powers. These souls still vary in the magnitude of their light and the intensity of various colors which as yet are not fully transparent. They have large freedom, and the beautiful formations of their bodies are entirely unlike our own dense and spiritually unappealing forms. The power of their bodies corresponds with the attained spiritual splendor and beauty of their souls. By the mere effect of their tremendous wills they control large parts of the very substance of nature and, by means of their wonderful intellects, they produce effects, of which the least are greater than the greatest miracles of which man can conceive. THE FUTURE LIFE 187 Their knowledge of nature is so surpassing that our greatest scientists would appear beside them like little children that have just begun to learn the A B C of natural science. From this station the purified and highly exalted soul sees with great clearness the outer spheres of worlds surrounding the sphere in which he lives. He understands everything in all these tremendous spheres and innumerable worlds of life, every motive and every station of each spiritual being, and each unit and compound of the forces and formation of nature. This station constitutes the first degree of univer- sal knowledge, with the corresponding power of cooperation with the dominating and creational might of God. Divine justice becomes the consuming ardor of the soul, and its activity in the outward spheres is one of the chief tasks of life. Surely, God has His holy heralds cooperating as urgers, guardians and judges. Even in our distant world many of us receive inspiration and enlightenment by virtue of their mediation. These great souls have learned to live under the continuous inspiration of God, and they impart this inspiration to their weaker brethren as an old and virtuous friend does with a younger friend. Those 188 RELIGION OF THE SOUL who have never experienced distinct virtuous inspira- tions are not only religiously, but also intellectually and sentimentally, impotent and must depend on some human testimony for their spiritual sustenance. The divine testimony in their hearts is so weak that they fear to trust it. This spiritual calamity is due to the fact that they have never seriously searched for the divine testimony in themselves. But above all is the indescribable grandeur and beauty of the saintly characters of these great souls and their profoundly respectful associations. Each collective tendency flows from a deeply grounded brotherhood. To give the most is their life. Here begins the great concourse for the holy pro- cession to the realms of the inward heavens. Here the highly sanctified souls shine with ever greater intensity of virtues and, like streams of light, each movement a beatifying harmony, they go onward to the profoundest source of Divine life. The movement from the middle spheres to the cen- ter of the divine heaven is the most intense process of life. With each approach to the most inward spheres grows the power of the soul, and with each degree of increased power its responsibility before God. The neglect of this sacred trust causes the more or less gradual fall of the great souls above us. Great dignity involves the task of great respon- THE FUTURE LIFE 189 sibility. Souls not inclined to undertake great responsibilities must remain small, and it is this smallness which causes the fatalistic mood in their mentality and sentiments. The sense of justice is sustained and developed through great responsibilities. Hence, if the soul is endowed with such tremendous power as it has in the nearness to God, its responsibility grows to the height of dignity which is inconceivable to the human mind. We can only have a vague and subconscious feeling of this power. Planets, solar systems, all groups of solar systems and the incalculable spheres, with their infinite inten- sities of life, all these are the field of their activity. With each approach to God, the imparting of divine power becomes greater, until the final and supreme likeness of God is reached. In those heavens the hierarchy of Divine holiness is established and the perfect participation in, coop- eration with and affirmation of the ineffable and almighty attributes of God is realized. Perfectly sanctified souls are God-like, endowed with the magnificence of the mights of God. Their life con- sists in the holy dominion with God and in the per- fect, though dependent, association with Him. It requires a tremendous and accurate insight into and a profound experience of the heavenly power of 190 RELIGION OF THE SOUL virtues in order to attain only an imperfect under- standing of the reality of this great life. It so greatly transcends the power of human imagination that only through inductive logic are we capable of its apprehension. The great aim of our life, however, is clear, and each nobler soul feels this fact in his conscience and in his heart. The Fall or Outward Course of Life The experience of our present life unfolds a great variety of spiritual lapses resulting from a more or less distinct devotion to passions. Tliese lapses are judged according to the accepted standard of life. And standards of life are caused by the more or less active power of col- lective conscience. Thus, where the standard of Ufe is high, indi- vidual lapses are rarer and generally less important. In the opposite case, individual lapses are more fre- quent, graver and, if not conspicuously criminal, they are usually considered as common occurrences. Since the real standard of life consists intrinsically in the virtuous dignity of life, life in all its activity, mentality and sentimentality cannot be rightly esti- mated save from the standpoint of its highest spir- THE FUTURE UFE 191 itual dignity. ^ All other standards are vague, desultory and fail to lead us to the serious and right understanding of the real value of social and indi- vidual life. All deeds, however important or inconspicuous, are the result of free determination, the activity of our self-conscious and self-sentient will. Uncon- scious and unsentient deeds do not exist. Conse- quently, each unworthy deed is a clear lapse from the worthiness, wisdom and love for which our self- conscious and self-sentient will is created, and there- fore constitutes the intrinsic sin and dishonor of the soul and the real evil of our life. TTie whole individual and collective evil derives from our wicked determinations, ignorance and sel- fishness, the direct consequence of the absence of humility, wisdom and love. There are no other evils except those deriving from wicked determinations. All so-called natural evils are merely the concomitant expressions or illus- trations of spiritual evils. In themselves natural evils are no evils, for nature has neither the capacity for nor the form of responsibility. Spiritual life consists principally in the accumula- tion of virtuous or unvirtuous sentiments. Conse- quently, as each accumulation of and perseverance ^ /. 192 RELIGION OF THE SOUL in virtuous sentiments adds force to the ascent or inward course, thus each accumulation of and per- sistence in unvirtuous sentiments adds force to the fall or outward course of the soul. In each instance the spiritual being stands before this alternative. It either rises in power of conscience and consequent dignity, or lowers its power of conscience and falls beneath its attained worthiness. The justice of the rise and fall is immediate, for the justice of the intrinsic capacity of the soul pre- cedes all its deeds. All human deeds are invariably preceded by the just or unjust predisposition accord- ing to which they unfold themselves. The average human intellect is too weak to have a clear under- standing of the souFs inward standpoint of justice. In order to conceive the just value of each soul we must know the history of its past determinations, the result of which invariably lies in the complex of its sentiments. Sentiments do not come of themselves, imper- sonally or unconsciously. They are the fruitional result of our determinations, a fact which is evident in all our psychological processes. Hence the state of our sentimental complex is clearly indicative of past determinations. To maintain or even to consent to the opinion THE FUTURE LIFE 193 that this Ufe is our first life in the history of Divine creation is an insult to reason, conscience, religion and the justice of God. The belief in an incidental creation in time and space is one of the most debasing of all religious opinions. No wonder, when such views are accepted, that the thoughtful man cannot see the justice of Divme creation and hence cannot believe in God, much less have faith in Him. The history of souls reaches back into Divine eternity, which cannot be logically defined in terms of time and space. Time and space are not eternal attribues of the Absolute, but creational relative forms in which the whole creation lives. They are only the natural reflex of eternity and as such the existential measure of life. Thus time is the inten- sive and space the extensive measure of life. All spiritual and natural life needs time for its chang- ing growth and decline, and space for the external manifestation of its inherent content and force. In the religious view, all facts of life must be demonstrable from the absolute standpoint of the holiness, truth and love of God, and His perfect almightiness of sacrificial creation, in order to impart conviction. The slightest failure in this effort breeds skepticism, fatalism and fanaticism. 194 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Wherein consists the fall of the soul? The fall of the soul consists in its alienation from the Voice of God and in its consequent following of the impulses of passions. Each passion impedes the operation of conscience and debases the soul's character. If obstinately and intently pursued, it not only impedes but disdains conscience, in which event, under the pressure of the insult to Divine majesty, the Voice of God becomes silent. TTie silence of the Voice of God is the most fearful instant in spiritual life. This just ^lence is not yet a condemnation, but a waiting for the return of the soul into the sphere of Divine operation, which accounts for the Divine magnanimity and generally incomprehensible patience toward so many wicked souls. If the sinfulness of the soul is not intense, it merely loses its favorable station and is relegated to severer conditions of life, where it will be more palpably taught that higher aims must be maintained with pro- found respect and gratefulness. If, however, the soul obdurately persists in its debasing sinfulness, it falls by the weight of its inhu- manity into the animal spheres, where the light of conscience is reduced to a mere instinctive feeling THE FUTURE LIFE 195 of the right and wrong, and where the sense of adora- tion, esteem, truth and love is replaced by fear, con- tempt, cimning and hatred. Many souls are moving outward from better worlds than ours. They may be identified through the possession of a certain degree of refinement and greater alertness of mind, and such souls usually acquire the most favorable stations in the human community. But, since the tendency of most of them is toward vanity and self-gratification, and not toward the growth in virtue, by which force alone the unintelligent and helpless mass of humanity can be efficiently served, their pitiful future is inevitable. The sphere of animal souls is altogether too little understood. They must be viewed from the same standpoint as the human soul. Each spiritual being, whether human or animal, must be estimated generi- cally, collectively and individually by the power of its virtues and passions. For virtue and passion is the sole measure and test of life. Any other test is superficial and intrinsically groundless. To each animal a due amount of kindness must be applied in order to make it serviceable to our own life and by this service raise it to the dignity of worthy cooperation. There are animals which render more service to humanity than many human beings. Why should man retain the appearance of 196 RELIGION OF THE SOUL a human being if he has forfeited his human dignity ? The concept that animals have no immortal souls grew out of the bottomless conceit of the human mind without conscience. Who creates those animal souls ? Do they create themselves? Or were they created by the devil, as one orthodox writer unguardedly suggested? Do thoughtless and merciless men believe that God looks on the indiscriminate killing of animals with indifference ? Does it not occur to the so-called sportsman that, according to the law of justice, he makes himself liable to the charge of debasing cruelty ? Indeed, there is cruelty in our low world and particularly among animals. But this cruelty is the manifest consequence of cruel dispositions, of the low, sinful state into which depraved souls have fallen. They have practiced cruelty on others and reciprocally cruelty is practiced on them. Cruelty is the distinct feature of the lowest degra- dation of souls. Hence their monstrously ugly bodies, the natural instrument and expression of their hideous lives. We have had cruel men who by sheer physical force have tortured and destroyed thousands of lives. What are such men to become in the future life, if not incarnate brutes and mon- sters who by incessant hatred destroy each other? THE FUTURE UFE 197 The proud will of such a soul, snarling with hatred, becomes a force of destruction which, in the event of brutal victory, is always filled with vaunting superiority. It is the same "I have got him" of the minor selfish performances of the dishonorable human will. "Right or wrong," he shows his force, and this is all he wants to accomplish. Countless are the degrees of the fall of the souls. Each positive value which the soul has retained in its complex of sentiments is guarded in its tem- porary course by the justice of providential conditions. From each station of debasement the soul is capa- ble of retracing its inward or upward course and of regaining a worthier station. But if the soul obsti- nately determines itself to remain in its wicked state, there is only one way to bring it to the consciousness of its wretchedness, and this way is through the inexorable justice. Yet, even in this horrible state of ruthless pas- sions, providential conditions in themselves are by no means cruel. On the contrary, they are mild and merciful. Each animal soul loves its Ufe and lives with many little joys. It is the loss of the consciousness and distinct feel- ing of the holy dignity of life which causes their spiritual wretchedness and the consequent limitations 198 RELIGION OF THE SOUL of providential conditions. And this patent fact constitutes the radical difference between the human and the animal soul. Tlie objection that it is impossible to accept the animal soul as the "image of God" arises from the misconception of this image. It is only the super- spiritual ground of the soul or conscience which is the real image of God. Neither the superhuman, human or animal soul per se is the image of God, but a spiritual adaptation made to follow this image or a spiritual reflex of this image. This misconception is due to the general lack of discrimination between the superspiritual ground and the intrinsic spiritual force of the soul. The soul and conscience have thus far been erroneously regarded as an integral spiritual unit, conscience being merely the moral quality of reason. From the standpoint of this premise, so utterly untrue in theory and actual practice, no religious fact can be explained either logically or psychologically. And this is precisely the failure of all traditional creeds and moral theories. With the exception of those who still believe in an evil principle, all creeds claim the harmony of the universe with the creative will of God. But their narrow standpomt of religious ideas and the consequent lack of mental elevation prevents them THE FUTURE LIFE 199 from substantiating that claim and compels them to seek for refuge in mystery, as if mystery were the last beam of divine light. Mystery is always the final refuge of all who have little or no knowledge of God and of religion. The sacred science of religion demands the full explanation of the universal facts of life, but only a few have the intense desire to devote their whole energy to this sublime cause. The life and value of each soul consists in its freely acquired complex of sentiments. Sentiments, in either the worthy or unworthy direction, have, humanly speaking, an infinite scale of degrees of intensity. Each degree consists of a definite quan- tity of worthy or unworthy sentiments. And it is according to this qualitative and quantitative achieve- ment of sentiments toward God or against God that each soul receives its just providential form and station. Worthy souls concentrate their energies of will on the acquisition of virtues, and continue to grow in this acquisition, until they reach the most inward or highest spheres of life, called heaven. Unworthy souls, on the other hand, concentrate their energies on the acquisition of passions, and continue to grow in this acquistion, until they reach the most distant spheres from God, called hell. 200 RELIGION OF THE SOUL Our whole life is a divine process of justice. Those who ardently desire and want to be with God are near Him and partake in the eternal life of His holiness, truth and love. Here the full power, vision and fruition of life are consummated. And those who do not desire and want to be with God are removed from His nearness to the most out- ward spheres of creation, there to partake in the undivine life of passions, full of strife and ignominy, until, crushed by the abomination of their wretched state, they decide to retrace their steps to God. Our souls, living in the outer spheres of creation, see much debasement, because the mass of men are habitually guilty of debasing deeds. Our will is far more efficient in matters of common profit, vanity and sensual delight than in virtuous achievements. The confusion of the human mind is distressing, even among our intellectual leaders. The masses are led like a flock to all sorts of ideals, except such as awaken conscience, self-respect and responsibility before God and our fellow-beings. The human heart is more anxious for its own satisfaction than for the welfare of the rest of the world. It has little or no sympathy for others. Men more readily spend millions on luxuries than thousands for the edifica- tion of the human soul. These undeniable facts THE FUTURE UFE 201 constitute the collective testimony concerning the value of the human race. What we most need is a profounder awakening of justice in our souls, but to accomplish this abso- lute necessity the human conscience must be stirred and cultivated by better educational means than those in common practice. Above all, our churches must have more con- science, our educational institutions and leaders of man must have more conscience, and in all our rela- tions conscience must be the supreme arbiter and bond of life. Then we shall clearly hear the Voice of God and attain the true religion of the soul. THE LAST WORD OF CONSCIENCE I am the living Voice of God that dwelleth in thy inwardness. I am the dominating might and rule of worthy life, the sole path of sanctification, immortal glory, light and beatitude. I inspire and fortify thy will, I enlighten thy thought and I warm thy heart, for the sake of participation in the holiness of God, for the sake of cooperation with His al- mightiness, and for the sake of affirming thy life in His ever blessing and beatifying eternity. I am the leader of worlds and souls, the divine oracle of justice, the faithful path- finder of light and love, the uplifter from sins and the sole consolation in misery and suffering. I am the proclaimer of thy divine child- ship, thy most intimate and faithful guide, the life of exalted friendship and spiritual brotherhood, the protector of innocence and the sole might that never yields to wicked- ness and sin. I am the living Voice of God, which for- ever resounds in every place and creature. 202 LAST WORD OF CONSCIENCE 203 Thou canst not close thy soul to my Voice. I am with thee in every moment of thy life, for I am the eternal urge to great and lofty deeds, the verdict of righteous judgment and the blessing of all sacrifices. I am the eternal teacher of sacrifice, for my Voice is the eternal message from the profundity of sacrificial Divinity. The praise of God is the eternal object of my speaking power. My Voice pleads and invites thee to praise and love with me the holiness, truth and love of God, that thou mayest partake in and be blessed by these Divine mights and their imperishable glories. The sooner thou foUowest my Voice, the sooner wilt thou be free from the danger of unrighteous and debasing passions, the sooner thy determination will be pure and strong, thy mind clear and lofty and thy heart filled with joy everlasting. For I am the unfailing promise of the everlasting life of glory, light and beatitude. RETURN TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 198 Main Stacks LOAN PERIOD 1 HOME USE 2 3 4 5 6 AU BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS. Renawls and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date. Books may be Renewed by calling 642-340S. DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 6661 8 1 AVHl FORM NO. DD6 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY BERKELEY CA 94720-6000 LD 21-100m-7,'89(402s) U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES CDSMIOaiSQ